Wake Me Up
by Hazel Grace L
Summary: When Percy collides into Jason - quite literally - they find themselves slowly falling in love. Everything isn't always as simple as it seems, though, because Percy's ex-girlfriend, Annabeth, shows up and things get complicated. Already faced with the challenges of college and growing up, Percy must choose between his past and his future. (AU Jercy & slight Percabeth)
1. Chapter 1

**So I figured there weren't a lot of Jercy fics and they're kinda like my OTP and I took it upon myself to write this. I'm giving out a warning that there might be some language - they're in college so that's self-explanatory. Also, if you don't like boyxboy, then you might not want to read this.**

**Thanks to Ed Sheeran for giving me the idea to write this chapter. The beginning is loosely based off the song 'U.N.I.' which is a pretty awesome song if you ask me. The title is also another song off of Ed's album '+'.**

**Finally, a disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson characters, Rick Riordan does, blah blah blah. This disclaimer applies to the entire story by the way.**

**Okay, read on, my darlings. **

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><p>Percy had been cleaning his dorm room when he found it.<p>

A small baby blue elastic hairband, no thicker than his wrist. It was a small thing, really, which didn't explain the tidal wave of emotions that hit him at the sight of it.

Blonde curls. Late night phone calls, soft breathing echoing in his ear. Grey eyes and oh God, he was going to be sick. In his post-hangover state it was all too much to handle, his poor hands were shaking uncontrollably.

He had to get out.

Percy internally cursed the stupid university for having community bathrooms for all the boys in the dorm building, placing a hand on the wall to steady himself. He doubted he could make it to the toilet to hurl what he'd hastily scarfed down during his severe case of the munchies. He considered himself lucky if he made it out of his room alone.

Gathering himself, Percy swung open and was prepared to make a mad dash to the bathroom before he slammed into someone, falling to the ground with a quiet '_oomph_'.

"Dude, are you okay?"

Percy stared blankly at the floor beneath him. What was he supposed to tell this stranger? _Yeah, I just thought about my ex and had a panic attack, I'm doing fine. How are you?_

"Ouch," Percy looked up at the person and was strikingly aware that he was blonde. Because no one was as freaking lucky as Percy. "That must suck with the whole ex thing... I'm doing great, though. Thanks for asking."

"Oh, shit, did I say that out loud?"

The blonde laughed, the corner of his eyes crinkling. "Yes, you did. I'm Jason Grace, by the way." He offered a hand down to Percy, who stared at it and Jason briefly wondered if this green-eyed boy sprawled on the floor had ever received a helping hand before.

Percy blinked and realized this Jason kid was holding his hand out to lift him up. His cheeks flushed as he put his own hand in Jason's, the blonde easily hoisting him up with one hand. Percy inwardly groaned. He really needed to start working out again. This guy was making him feel like he was five-years-old again and Percy was not a fan of his childhood. Or any other part of his life for that matter, but that was beside the point. Jason had muscle and Percy had - well, flab.

Mustering up his most charming smile, Percy grinned, a dimple popping up on his cheek. "I'm the infamous Percy Jackson, but that's a really long name so you can just call me Percy." He said cheekily, finding himself smirking a bit when Jason quirked an eyebrow and he really took the chance to check him out.

The blonde was easily considered sexy and Percy didn't even bat for the other team. Jason had those strong pronounced cheekbones that all the girls loved, crystal blue eyes that matched the sky (Percy really wasn't trying to sound cliche but that was the best comparison he could come up with, unless you considered the cerulean crayon in the Crayola box.), and a cute little scar above his lip. Basically, Jason was an Abercrombie model without the Abercrombie - he wore Hollister, made obvious by the eagle spreading its wings and probably invisibly shitting all over his white T-shirt.

"Wow, you actually had me swooning there for a moment," Jason said, sarcasm oozing from his voice. Though, in retrospect, he really had meant it. How could he not swoon when there was a flirty and cute green-eyed boy in front of him?

"Oh please, you probably were swooning the moment you saw me." Percy scoffed, rolling his eyes. "What can I say? I'm irresistible."

"Not from the way you were curled up on the floor earlier. I thought you were having cramps or something."

Jason let out a laugh - he seemed to be doing that a lot around this boy - at the sight of Percy feigning hurt, the older boy clutching his heart in mock pain.

"That really stung, Grace."

"Since when did we start addressing each other by last name?" The blonde inquired, genuinely intrigued by this Percy character. He found it baffling how he could change so quickly from panic to pain to teasing him, a hint of a smile playing at his lips.

"Since five minutes ago," Percy answered flippantly and then quickly stuck his head inside his room to check the time on his alarm clock since they were still standing by the doorway where they collided into each other. His green eyes widened as he became aware of the time. It was the beginning of the spring semester and if he didn't get a move on it, he'd be flunking yet another one of his classes. And Percy hated seeing his mother's disappointed face whenever he told her he was failing.

"Shit, I'm almost late for class, gotta go. See you around, Grace." Percy told the blonde with a wink before proceeding to slam the door in Jason's face. He shook his head from inside the room and opened the door again, giving the blonde an apologetic smile. "Where are my manners? Have a good day, Jason!"

And then he shut the door, expecting to shut Jason out of his life as well, but that was all thrown out of the window as Percy sat down in a seat in the back row of his new Latin class, thinking that the bearded teacher in a wheelchair seemed too out of place to even teach at a university when a familiar blonde head strolled into the classroom like freaking Prince Charming and plopped down in the seat next to him.

Now how the hell was Percy supposed to pass this class sitting next to someone like Jason Grace?

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><p>Jason found himself sneaking nervous glances at the black-haired boy sitting beside him, wondering vaguely if he looked like a stalker. Something about this Percy guy made him smile like an idiot and Jason wasn't one to convey his emotions easily, a habit he'd picked up as he got older. Sometimes it was easier to put on a poker face and yet, his poker face was just a face whenever he looked at Percy. And probably a sad face at that.<p>

He knew that Percy was a natural flirt - it was just his personality - but when Jason thought about their earlier conversation, he got butterflies in his stomach and no, he did not have a crush on Percy Jackson and the fact that it was him of all people was bad enough already. The guy could barely think about his ex-girlfriend (or hopefully, ex-boyfriend) without having a panic attack, which meant that he was probably still in love with her (or him), and then, there was the whole '_he might not even be gay_' thing problem and Jason refused to make an ass of himself. He'd rather stick a fork into an electrical outlet than be rejected by Percy Jackson.

Speaking of whom, was currently tapping his pencil on Jason's desk, attempting to attract the blonde's attention. He glanced over at Percy, "What?"

"Have you even been paying attention?" Percy asked incredulously, waving the packet of papers he held in his hands in front of Jason's face.

He ducked his head to hide the blush creeping onto his cheeks. "No?"

Percy made a weird strangled sound and threw his head back, letting out a deep sigh. "Well, Grace, we have to finish this packet that our teacher oh-so-graciously handed out on the first day and have it turned in by the end of class. Oh God, this is like high school all over again. And do you know how much I hated high school, Jason?"

The look Percy was giving him - green eyes narrowed intentionally on him like he expected an answer - made said boy squeak out a shaky, "No."

"It was a rhetorical question, but a lot, my friend," Percy replied, swiftly taking his pencil into his deft hands and tapping it twice against his desk. "Anyways, I figured you'd be better at this Latin stuff than me - you look like you were valedictorian -"

Jason sat up a bit straighter. "I was."

" - so I expect every answer that I copy from you to be correct." Percy finished, giving him a look that meant business.

Jason's mouth fell open. Did Percy really think that he'd just simply let him copy every answer from him? He was cute, but he wasn't _that_ good looking.

"I can't believe you." Jason stated.

Percy frowned, confusion settling on his face. "What?"

"You really expect me to let you copy the answers off of me?"

Percy shrugged. "Well, yeah, I mean - "

"Percy, do you understand how hard I worked my ass off to get here? All those years of honors and AP classes I had to take while you just have it handed to you on a silver platter?" Jason shook his head and gripped his pencil firmly. "No way."

"Oh," Percy's eyes fell to his desk, the corners of his mouth tilting downwards. "It's fine, I guess I'll find someone else to work with... Someone else who smells like Hollister and is really smart and is maybe kind of cute. They shouldn't be that hard to find..." Green eyes quickly darted up to meet blue.

And damn, if Percy though he was cute, maybe Jason should let him copy the answers he'd already hastily written on his paper. But that was it.

Sighing, Jason pointedly looked at Percy, "Okay, but - _hey_!"

In an instant, the green-eyed boy had snatched Jason's papers from his desk, his hand flying across his own papers as he transferred the blonde's answers. Jason tried to reach for his own packet, but Percy saw it coming and blocked his arm, still writing.

Huffing, the blonde sat back in his seat, "Whatever, Jackson, just make sure you paraphrase - "

"I have no idea what that means!"

"Change the words a bit," Jason corrected himself, glaring at the boy beside him. "I don't need the teacher finding out you cheated-"

Percy glanced around the room before whispering pretty loudly to the blonde. "Say it any louder, will you?"

"I mean, this is college, Percy," Jason continued, biting his lip nervously. "The stakes are higher."

"Loosen up a bit, Jay," the black-haired teen smirked at him, his dimples appearing. "I've got this. I'm a pro!"

And then two hands were grabbing both packets off of Percy's desk, Mr. Brunner tssk-ing in disapproval as he observed the work on the papers. "Mr. Jackson, if you're going to be lazy in my class, don't be lazy while you're being lazy. Please write in full sentences."

Jason groaned and glared even harder at the green-eyed boy, who smiled sheepishly at the teacher.

"Sorry, I got a cramp in my hand," Percy flat out lied and despite the fact that Jason was totally against the idea of lying, he found himself laughing beside him.

"And Mr. Grace, next time please don't give your work to another student or more specifically, Percy Jackson," Mr. Brunner called as he rolled his wheelchair down the aisle away from the pair of boys. "Both of you get a zero for the first grade in the gradebook."

Jason probably should've been upset by being caught in the act of cheating, but somehow he found it to okay if that meant that Percy Jackson would keep smiling at him like he was the coolest thing in the world.

"You're a pro alright," Jason said sarcastically as class ended and they were packing up to leave, sneaking a quick look at Percy.

He grinned, running a hand through his 'sex hair' as Jason called it. "Well, I'm a pro at other things." Percy said, slinking around the blonde's shoulders. "Catch ya later, Grace."

Jason stopped breathing for a moment at the contact and was the room tilting? When he finally blinked and overcame his vertigo, Percy had already swung his backpack over his shoulder and was waltzing out of the classroom and wow, he had a nice ass.

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><p><strong>Don't forget to review, lovelies. Thanks. <strong>

**- Hazel x**


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay, thanks to everyone who reviewed and favorited this story so far. It means a lot, really.**

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><p>Jason gripped the edges of his plastic lunch tray, his electric blue eyes searching the huge cafeteria for his friends. He found them huddled in a table near the Subway booth and sat down next to Piper, who was too busy having some playful argument with the latino boy across from them.<p>

"Jason," Leo said, "please tell her-" he pointed at Piper "-that MTV is more than a channel promoting sex! They have good shows, right?"

Jason shrugged, popping a French fry into his mouth as he put an arm around Piper's shoulders. "I don't know, man. I'm not really into MTV."

"Thank you, Jason!" Piper exclaimed, her kaleidoscope eyes turning a new shade of blue, reflecting Jason's. "Leo doesn't know what real television is."

Leo scoffed, "And what is? Pretty Little Liars?"

Really, Jason didn't understand their love-hate relationship. They were like a married couple, always teasing and annoying each other purposely. Still, Jason knew that they were pretty close, almost like brother and sister. Leo did care about Piper, though – Jason remembered the Latino complaining about the brunette's ex-boyfriend, Dylan, saying that he was a self-absorbed jerk. And then Leo dragged the blonde with him to comfort Piper when they broke up, the three of them watching all of Piper's favorite movies and eating ice cream straight out of the carton. Yeah, they were bad ass like that.

Speaking of asses, the blonde began to think about an ass that belonged to the one and only Percy Jackson. He could already imagine things he'd do to him, grabbing his ass in his hands and -

"Jason."

"Huh?" The blonde raised an eyebrow, turning his head to look at Piper, who was giving him a questioning look.

"Are you okay, dude?" Leo asked, concern written all over his elfin features. "You just totally blanked out. I thought you were going to have a seizure or something."

Jason blushed, shaking his head quickly. "No, I was just thinking about ... someone."

"Awww!" Piper cooed, reaching over to ruffle Jason's hair. He shot her a warning look and desperately tried to fix it before Percy saw him with horrible hair. "Do you want to talk about him? Is he your new boyfriend?"

(Yes, his friends knew he was gay, but that wasn't something Jason mentioned to everyone. It was an insider only his close friends and family knew, and even if he was totally gay, Jason was still wary to let people know. He didn't want people to treat him differently because he liked boys instead of girls.)

"He's not my boyfriend." Jason mumbled, looking down at his tray. Suddenly, his cheeseburger and fries didn't seem so good anymore. He felt nauseous, like if he ate anything, he'd throw up and pass out cold.

Leo noticed the way his best friend's face was turning paler and paler every passing second. He was worried that Jason would turn into a vampire, or worse, have a brain heart attack from lack of blood flow. So he cleared his throat, causing both the blonde and Piper to look at him.

"Hey, bro, if you want to talk about we're listening, okay?" Leo told Jason and Piper nodded.

"Yeah," she said, taking Jason's hand into her own and squeezing it. "If you want to get anything off your chest, we're here."

"Unless it's chest hair," commented the Latino.

Piper shot him a glare. "Shut up, Leo."

Jason sighed, pushing his tray of food in front of him, and suddenly all of the words were tumbling out of his mouth like word vomit. "Okay, so there's this guy, his name is Percy Jackson and he's really cute and he's got sex hair and green eyes like the sea, but I don't know if he's gay or not. I mean, he said he had an ex but he never mentioned if it was a girl or a boy. I just - I don't want to push myself onto him and then have him reject me because he's not into guys. And he's giving me all of these mixed signals that make me so freaking confused and to top it all off, we only met today so it'd kind of be like rushing into things?" Jason looked between his two friends, waiting for a response from either of them.

"Well, it seems like you really like this Percy Jackson kid, so I say go for it," Leo said simply, shrugging. "He can't be that cute anyways. I've never heard of him."

Jason rolled his eyes and turned to Piper. "What about you, Pipes? You're really good at this love and romance stuff."

Piper took a deep breath and folded her hands over the table, about to spill some Dr. Phil shit that was supposed to make Jason feel better. "I think you should wait it out," she she stated matter-of-factly and Jason groaned.

"You're supposed to make me feel better!" he whined, letting his head fall softly against the table in front of him.

"You said yourself it'd be rushing into things! Plus, you should get to know him better. He might have some annoying habit you don't know about that's one of your pet peeves. After all, good things come to those who wait."

"And there's the Dr. Phil shit."

"What?" Piper asked.

"Nothing."

"Hey, guys, Thalia is coming over and she's got some cute guy behind her." Leo warned, pointing over Jason's shoulder. "I think he's a swimmer or something. I've seen him before."

Of course, Jason's curiousity got the better of him and he dared to look over his shoulder to see who this swimmer guy was. He gasped a little as green eyes met blue and the pair approached the table, Thalia sitting next to Leo and the boy plopping down next to Jason, who was rendered speechless.

Thalia grinned and pointed at the boy. "Guys, this is Percy Jackson, the university's swim captain. Percy, this is Leo, Piper and -"

"Jason," he finished for her, sending the blonde a knowing smirk. "Yeah, I met him earlier."

"How do you know Jason?" Thalia questioned, her over protective sister side coming out. "Are you stalking him or something?" Jason let out a silent moan, burying his tomato red face in Piper's shoulder.

Percy shrugged, a care-free grin breaking out on his face as he ran his hand through his hair, trying to tame his wild hair. "We have Latin together."

Before Thalia could continue questioning Percy's motives, Piper's jaw dropped, realization dawning on her. "Wait, you're Percy Jackson?"

Said boy nodded, glancing nervously at the tan-skinned brunette. "Yeah. Should I be worried or flattered that you know of me?" He asked, his tone playful.

Leo stared at him, and then broke out into a grin that made him look like the Chesire cat. "Wow, Jason, Percy is actually cute."

"You talked to them about me?" asked Percy, glancing curiously at the blonde, smiling.

Jason blushed and tried to form coherent words. "Uh, yeah."

And Percy kept staring at Jason, even after the conversation had shifted to something else. He didn't know why, though. Maybe it was the way whenever someone said something funny, the blonde smiled, stretching the scar above his lip in a cute way. Percy didn't know why he thought of Jason as cute because he was pretty sure he was straight - he'd dated several girls before and didn't have to fake anything. Plus, he was still kind of in love with his ex-girlfriend, Annabeth, which was maybe why he found Jason attractive.

Percy totally had a thing for blondes.

"Hey, water boy, don't you have practice in, like, ten minutes?" Thalia asked him, pointing at a clock on a wall in the cafeteria.

Percy groaned. "Shit."

He was really out of his game after Christmas break. He was used to waking up whenever he wanted and not being on schedule. All Percy wanted to do was sleep and play Call of Duty for the rest of his life, but for some reason someone decided you can't make a living playing video games.

"Language," Jason muttered under his breath, causing Percy to send him an amused look.

Percy turned to the rest of the table, slowly getting up from his seat as he grinned, saying, "I apparently have practice in five minutes, so I have to cut this meeting short. Don't miss me too much." And then he left, leaving the other four staring after him.

"His level of confidence is astounding." said Leo.

"Congratulations," Thalia snapped, "you actually sounded smart."

Leo gave her an offended look. "I am smart."

"Whatever." She rolled her blue eyes that were identical to Jason's, which was understandable since they were siblings. "Jason, I'm going to head out. Luke wants to show me something."

Then she got up and left in her usual moodiness. Most people thought she was an A-class bitch when they first met her, but she just had a sarcastic personality and didn't warm up very well to strangers, and that had Jason wondering how Thalia knew Percy. It wasn't really a surprise, though - they're personalities were strikingly similar. If they weren't friends, Jason knew that they would've probably hated each other's guts.

"And then were three," muttered Piper.

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><p><strong>Don't forget to review because I love hearing what you guys think about the story.<strong>

**Also, one of the reviews were asking how this is Jercy and Percabeth. It's both because it has slight Percabeth due to the fact that Percy is still in love with Annabeth and she shows up unannounced and there's the Jercy thing so yeah. That's why it's kind of both.**

**Stay awesome**

**- Hazel x**

**(P.S. Hazel is just my pen name, not my real name. It's such a pretty name and also the Fault in Our Stars aka perfection asdfghjkl )**


	3. Chapter 3

All throughout swim practice, Percy was distracted by his thoughts of blue eyes and blonde hair. He didn't know why he couldn't get his mind off of Jason. It frustrated him to no end because he really wasn't looking for a relationship. Really.

Percy submerged himself underwater, hoping to cleanse his thoughts as he raced against the boy next him. The boy was fast, though he wasn't as fast as him. Percy Jackson had the record time for the fastest swimmer in the state of New York for the year - 43.72 for the 100 yard breast stroke. Not that he was bragging or anything. (He was, by the way.)

Reaching forward, Percy's fingers brushed against the concrete wall of the pool and he heard the click of stopwatch from above. He broke the surface of the water as he looked up at his coach expectantly, waiting to hear his results. Coach Hedge had a frown on his face and Percy was fully prepared to get yelled at.

Coach Hedge was a middle aged man with a permanent scowl on his face, always wearing a baseball cap and carrying a bat. Sometimes Percy wondered if he got the memo that he was the varsity swim coach, not the varsity baseball coach. It was probably why he hated his job so much. Honestly, Hedge had only gotten the gig as a last resort. At the end of Percy's sophomore year, the previous coach had gotten an invitation to prepare Michael Phelps - yes, _the_ Michael Phelps - for the 2016 Olympics and abandoned the school and its sixteen year winning streak, leaving Coach Hedge in charge of the swim team.

The only problem?

Coach Hedge was a horrible swim coach.

"Where is your head at, cupcake?" Coach Hedge yelled, making Percy flinch a little. "This is the slowest time you've had all season, Jackson. Get your head out of your ass and get those arms pumping. Let's go!" He blew the whistle hanging around his neck so hard, his face turned a bright shade of pink.

The whole swim team groaned, knowing that whenever Coach was mad at Percy, they all suffered. The green-eyed boy just clenched his jaw and prepared for fifty more laps. He was pretty sure Hedge wasn't even qualified to be a swim coach and that sucked because with him as their best swimmer, they could make first place at state championships. The team just wasn't working on their weak links, which left room for other colleges and universities to beat them.

As they finished up their laps, Percy called them over to gather in a circle around him. He gave them a look that meant business and prepared to give a speech worthy of Martin Luther King Jr. about effort, perseverance, and whatnot. But all of that was thrown out the window as he saw the dejected look on their faces.

"Okay, guys, so I know we're not exactly in the best shape right now with Hedge as our coach," Percy told them, giving everyone a stern look, "but his coaching only goes so far. You have to wants this, because if you don't, you'll never get anywhere. We have to act like every practice is championships." Percy sighed and ran a hand through his wet hair. "As your captain, it's my responsibility to make sure you guys are prepared to win, so just... do your bests, okay?"

There were a chorus of yeses and Percy smiled. "Practice is over. Go home!" And then there was a stampede of soaking wet boys rushing to have first dibs on the hot water in the shower.

Percy lagged behind, looking down at the water in the pool below. He could see his reflection in it - black hair, sea green eyes - a spitting image of his father, one of Olympus University's best swimmer in history and part of the Big Three, the nickname three MVP's in swim, football, and soccer had earned when each team won championships during the same year. Sometimes it felt like a curse, Percy having to have a reputation as good as his dad's, knowing that he could never live up to it. Even being captain wasn't good enough for his father, and Percy was too old now to have a temper tantrum and refuse to continue living up to the Jackson name.

"Good speech out there, cupcake," Coach Hedge said. Percy looked over and shot him a look, but softened after a second.

"Thanks, Coach." He replied, saying an awkward goodbye before he said something he regretted to the Coach. Percy really did not feel like getting hit on the head with a wooden baseball bat.

"Hey, Perce!" Someone called as Percy walked into the locker room. He looked over his shoulder and saw two identical looking boys with curly brown hair walking towards him, wearing the same matching mischievous grins. Percy recognized as Travis and Connor Stoll, brothers who were both on the track team.

Percy hung his white towel over his shoulders, nodding at them. "What's up?" The taller one - Travis - slung his arms around Percy's shoulders, "You, my man, are cordially invited to our party tonight!"

"Drinks will be provided, of course," added Connor. "It's gonna be the party of the year!"

Percy bit his lip, knowing that he'd never hear the end of it from his best friends, Grover and Rachel - "_You need to be more responsible, Percy! It's a school night!_" - but then the little devil version of him on his shoulder whispered into his ear, _go_.

"Sure," Percy said slowly, "but it's a school night, so I'll have to lay off a bit on the drinks."

"Since when have school nights ever stopped you?" Travis smirked, leaning in close to his face. "I heard last year that you got so drunk, you gave everyone at the party a strip tease."

Percy's face turned the darkest shade of red, remembering him standing on a dining room table with his clothes laying on the floor and people staring curiously. "Oh my God, I thought everyone forgot about that! It was the embarrassing moment of my life."

"I might've done a throwback Thursday on Instagram of that one pic of you with your hand on your c-" Percy quickly slapped a hand over Connor's mouth when he saw Jason enter the locker room in nothing but those tight football pants, the ones that made any guy seem like they had an ass. Jason, however, had an ass with or without the pants, but Percy didn't dare say that to anyone. _Ever_.

The blonde's eyes found Percy's and he waved, making the green-eyed boy's heart beat faster. Before he could say a quick '_hey_', Jason was already gone around a corner.

"Dude!" Connor whined, glaring at him. "What was that for?"

"You, uh, had a mosquito on your lip," Percy lied, "but it's gone now! Alright, bye!" He attempted to make a swift exit, but Travis easily grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him back. Hey, he was on the swim team, not the track team!

"If you're wondering if Jason's going to be at the party, he is," Travis informed him.

Connor nodded, "Perks of being in sports, the parties and girls."

Percy scoffed. "I don't care if he's at the party or not. Just make sure you have some vodka," he said before walking off.

"What about it being a school night?" Connor called after him.

Percy simply flipped them off over his shoulder.

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><p><strong>The end of this chapter was pretty fun to write, haha. I love Travis and Connor and imagine how hot a soaking wet Percy would be, omg. <strong>

**Anyways, don't forget to follow, favorite, review or whatever floats your boat. I like seeing a whole lot of support since this is my first story ever written in third person, which if it sucks, is why. **

**Thanks! **

**- Hazel x**


	4. Chapter 4

By the time Jason had arrived at the party with Thalia in tow, it was already in full-swing. Red solo cups littered the floors of the Stoll's house - which Jason was pretty sure they'd broken into since a foreclosed sign was stuck in the grass on the lawn and there was a broken window on the side of the house. Smooth, boys - and the music was so loud Jason could barely think.

"Do you want a -" He turned to Thalia, but she was already gone, probably going off to find where the drinks were being kept, always a step ahead as usual.

That left Jason leaning against the wall, searching the crowd of sweaty bodies grinding against each other for a familiar face. Or maybe just a cute one...

From across the room, Percy had a close eye on the blonde boy leaning against the wall, a cup of vodka in his hand. He watched as a brunette girl walked over to Jason, handed him a drink, and then started to flirt with him. The blonde didn't seem to notice the girl's interior motives, but Percy definitely did because c'mon, it was obvious. She had a hand pressed firmly against Jason's bicep and flipped her hair over her shoulder with her other hand, throwing her head back in laughter.

Percy didn't understand why Jason wasn't flirting back. The girl was pretty well endowed - her boobs were at least a C cup and she had a nice ass. In other words, she was undeniably hot.

Something stirred in the pit of Percy's stomach, and he glared and clenched his jaw in - what? Jealousy? Pssh, Percy Jackson wasn't jealous of anyone, not even the girl who was flirting with Jason and his godly cheek bones. As he watched the two interact, he clenched his fist, not even aware of the crushed cup in his hand.

Of course, Jason chose that exact moment to look across the room at Percy, his eyebrows raising up in a way that said '_please save me before I kill myself_.' Percy knew that look very well from when he'd come to parties back in the day with Rachel while he was still dating Annabeth, sending that look to his red-headed best friend whenever he'd attracted the unwanted attention of a girl that wasn't the blonde he had been dating.

So being the great friend he was, Percy sauntered over to Jason and wrapped his hand around the blonde's wrist and pulled him away to the couch, effectively ending the conversation between him and the girl.

"Thanks," Jason said, sending Percy a greatful look.

"What are friends for?" He responded, his body relaxing into the couch that seemed like it was made from clouds. Really, it was ridiculously soft and Percy just wanted to close his eyes and bounce up and down.

"Are you okay?" Jason asked, clearly concerned about the mental well-being of his friend.

The green-eyed boy hummed and wrapped his arms around Jason, resting his head on the blonde's shoulder. He'd had way too many drinks by then to remember what personal space was and that he was totally invading Jason's. Black hair falling into his eyes, Percy slurred out, "Why weren't you flirting with that girl back there? Is Piper your girlfriend?"

Jason almost spit out the drink he was drinking, causing him to choke. He could understand why Percy thought they were dating - when Jason and Piper were around each other, they were always quite handsy, but then there was the fact that he was positively _gay_.

Spluttering, he raised an eyebrow at Percy. All he could manage was a tiny, "Oh my god."

"What?" The green-eyed boy said, turning his head so that his breath sent chills down Jason's spine. The blonde drew in a sharp breath, his stomach feeling insanely light. "So you're not dating, then?"

"No, we're just best friends."

"Good," Percy murmured, "now you're all mine."

Too cliché maybe, but Percy was drunk and could give a rat's ass about how much he sounded like he belonged in one of his mother's sappy Hallmark channel movie.

He pressed his lips softly against the skin on the blonde's neck, traveling upwards. He kissed along Jason's heavenly jawline as the younger boy let out a breathy moan, instantly wanting more, but he knew Percy was drunk. Jason didn't want their first kiss to be because of clouded judgement and a cup of vodka. Call him a romantic, but he wanted their kiss to be meaningful, so he followed his brain instead of his heart. Or something else that was in his nether regions.

"Percy, you're drunk." Jason shoved the green-eyed boy off of him.

A hurt look crossed Percy's face as he pulled away, "You don't want me, Annabeth?"

Jason frowned, confused. He had no idea who Annabeth was or why Percy was calling him a girl's name. Last time Jason had checked, he definitely had balls.

"Who's Annabeth?" He asked lowly, the music almost completely drowning him out, and he was surprised the green-eyed boy could even hear him.

"You're Annabeth, my ex-girlfriend," Percy replied, blinking slowly.

And then Jason may or may not have hyperventilated. His breaths grew shorter and shallower as the room started to sway. Okay, maybe he shouldn't have drank whatever was in that cup that the brunette had given him because he was pretty sure he shouldn't feel like he was on a tilt-a-whirl. So what if the guy he liked thought he was his ex-girlfriend while he was drunk? The world wasn't going to end.

Yet, he hadn't checked the world news before he left his dorm, but that could always be done later. Jason had more important matters at hand, like making sure Percy Jackson didn't try to stick his hands down his pants and figure out for himself that no, he indeed was not a girl.

"I-I think we should go," Jason said, gathering the green-eyed boy into his arms as he stood up. "You're way too drunk to stay here or drive, so I'm taking you back to campus. We'll pick up your car in the morning." If it's still here, he mentally added, remembering that the house might be a crime scene once the Stolls and the rest of the jocks were through with it.

As they wandered through the house, trying to find Thalia, Jason had to intertwine his fingers with Percy's in order to keep the boy by his side. Unfortunately for the blonde, Percy was a touchy drunk.

Finally the blonde caught sight of his raven-haired sister, who was chatting with some of her friends, which included the infamous and star quarterback of Olympus University, Luke Castellan. Jason knew Luke from football and had no problem dragging Thalia away from him.

"Hey, Thals, I'm taking Percy back to school. He's completely -"

"Shit-faced? Yeah, I noticed." Thalia sipped from her red solo cup and raised an eyebrow as she watched her brother suffer at the hands of a drunk Percy. She seemed amused by the whole situation, laughing as the older boy groped Jason's ass. "Don't enjoy him too much, though!"

He groaned, "Trust me, I won't."

"Jason, we all know that you enjoy sucking dicks, don't be ashamed! Take advantage of the situation." From the way Thalia's eyes were bloodshot, Jason declared her drunk as well. Was he the only one halfway sober? Or not, he thought as he clung onto Percy as the room swayed again.

"So are you catching a ride with Luke or what?" He questioned her once his vertigo had passed.

"Yeah, I guess," she shrugged, "just take Jackson home and try to make it to football practice tomorrow in one piece."

It took a few moments to register what Thalia was talking about but when he did, Jason wasn't sure if he was embarrassed that his sister might have caught on to his crush or angry that she thought he would bottom. Because Jason was so not one to bottom.

"Whatever." He mumbled after watching his sister's retreating form. Jason settled his gaze on Percy, "Okay, we're leaving now."

"But I wanna _staaaaaaay_," Percy whined in his ear, sounding very much like a five-year-old having a temper tantrum. "I didn't even get to dance!"

Jason's eyes widened. "Do you remember the last time you danced while you were drunk? You did a strip tease."

Suddenly, Percy had him pressed up against the wall, holding Jason's hands firmly above his head. He brought his face dangerously close to the blonde's, so close Jason could clearly see the way his eyelashes fanned out against his cheeks in the most angelic way. And of course, Jason's little friend chose that moment to make an unwelcomed appearance.

Uh.

Percy kissed the shell of Jason's ear and asked, "Do you want me to give you a strip tease?"

Was this a trick question? Jason had to be getting punked. He looked around for Ashton Kutcher, expecting for him to come out and yell, "_Gotcha_!"

"No," Jason responded, not wanting to let Percy have the upper hand. "Now let's go." He pushed the boy off of him and dragged Percy to his car - an all black Mercedes with gold detailing because his father refused to drive around in anything that wasn't ridiculously flamboyant.

On the drive back to campus, Jason had to listen to Percy spew irrelevant thoughts and sing horribly off-key to every song that played on the radio as he drove. He eventually just ended up shutting off the radio, feeling very much like he was babysitting the older boy, but it was okay because Percy made anything look adorably cute, even with his face smashed against the window and drooling. Jason just wanted to cuddle him but that thought was discarded as the twinkling lights of Olympus came into view.

"Percy." Jason called, giving said boy a gentle shake.

The green-eyed boy raised an eyebrow and softly hummed.

"We're at school."

"Oh," he yawned cutely and gave the blonde an innocent smile.

Jason felt himself grinning back before he realized that he should probably take Percy to his dorm before they were found by a dean and suspended for being drunk on school campus. That was something he didn't need on his perfect record. Imagine: A-plus student, a starter for the football team, and oh, caught drunk on campus. Yeah, no.

So Jason threw Percy over his shoulder and carried him to the boys' dorm, a large building made of stone with a very Ancient Greek vibe to it. It was directly across from the girls' dorm that had an uncanny resemblance to it. Really, the whole school was based off of Ancient Greek architecture, hence the name Olympus University. All the school was missing were the statues of the Greek gods and goddesses, but that would be creepy to have marble eyes watching you as you walked across the courtyard.

"Where's your key?" Jason asked Percy once they reached his room.

The green-eyed boy muttered something incoherent under his breath, and Jason sighed, knowing he'd have to do the inevitable. He was forced to feel Percy up by pressing the flat of his palm against his ass, fumbling for the keys as he pulled them out of the older boy's back pocket, trying not to touch him more than he needed to. Unlocking the door, Jason pulled Percy into the room and observed his surroundings.

It was clean for the most part, save a couple of jeans or shirts thrown across the room, not that Jason was surprised. Percy didn't seem to be the type to be worried about things like keeping his room clean. Books were haphazardly scattered across a desk in the corner of the room, papers covering everything else. On the walls, there were more than a dozen gold medallions and trophies hanging on a wall - all from swimming.

Then, Jason caught on to all of the awards and trinkets. He was holding Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, the greatest swimmer in Olympus University history, in his arms. And it didn't make it any better that he was Jason Grace, son of Zeus, pretty much the football god of Olympus. Yeah, he was screwed if his dad found out about this - his father was always going on and on about how swimming was a girl sport and Poseidon was a wuss and - yeah, you get the point. Jason made a mental note to talk to Percy about their father's later.

Meanwhile, he placed the green-eyed boy on the bed, turning around to leave when fingers laced with his, pulling him back. He looked over his shoulder to see Percy laying there, green eyes pleading and black hair sticking up in every which way.

"Stay with me?" Percy begged, his voice soft and careful.

Jason searched his eyes for a hint of something - lust, maybe? - and found none. He was probably about to make the biggest mistake in his life, but it was Percy Jackson asking him to lay in bed with him. Sighing, Jason ran a hand through his blonde hair and said, "If you want. I-I don't -"

"It's okay, Jay, I want you to."

In the moments Jason's mind went fuzzy, Percy had already pulled the blonde onto the bed, their bodies fused together in a way that made Jason's heart beat so loud he could hear it in his ears. Was he nervous? Hell yeah, he didn't want to do anything he'd regret, like kissing Percy, for instance. It would be so easy to do it, too. The green-eyed boy had his head tilted up to look at Jason since he was an inch or two taller and all the blonde had to do was lean down and press their lips softly together and -

"Jason," Percy whispered and the blonde hummed in response, keeping his eyes closed so he didn't have to look him in the eye.

"_Jason_," Percy said again, more persistent, as his fingers tangled in the baby hairs on the nape of Jason's neck. The blonde's eyes flew open at the touch, an involuntary gasp escaping past his lips.

"Yeah?"

"I didn't mean to call you Annabeth," he told the blonde and then his breath shallowed, signalling that he had fallen asleep.

Jason let out the breath he didn't even know he was holding and let himself fully relax against the older boy's body. Really, he shouldn't have been as nervous as he was, Percy was drunk and probably wouldn't remember any of this in the morning, much less the fact that he'd almost gave Jason a strip tease back at the party.

He cursed himself from being a little aroused in such close quarters to Percy, but damn, a strip tease. If that happened for real, Jason was sure he'd rip off the rest of Percy's clothes as soon as his shirt came off and then it wouldn't be strip tease at all. More like rape.

Closing his eyes, it took Jason about twenty minutes to fall asleep, his limbs tangled with Percy's.


	5. Chapter 5

Sunlight streamed through blue curtains, directly hitting Percy's face. Groaning and cursing the Stolls for inviting him to that stupid party the night before, he opened his eyes to be met with Jason's face so close to his, he could see the freckles dotting the bridge of the blonde's nose like constellations.

Wait, why was he comparing Jason's freckles to stars? Or better yet, why was the blonde laying in his bed?

Percy thought back to last night's party. He remembered pretty drinking all of the vodka the Stoll brothers had available. He remembered seeing Jason with a hot brunette and then stealing him away from her to lead him to the couch. What he did not remember was everything that happened after that. His eyes widened and oh my God, did they -

Percy lifted up the blanket covering them and let out a sigh of relief. They were still fully clothed, but there was still a nagging voice in his head saying, "_Did you wish you guys had_?" And at first Percy thought no, and then he kept thinking about it and he wasn't so sure then.

Laying back against the bed, Percy turned his head to face Jason. He observed the blonde is his sleep, noticing that he looked more peaceful in his sleep, his full pink lips parted and inviting Percy to kiss them. He found himself tilting his head forward as if he was in a trance, his lips brushing against the blonde's in a chaste kiss.

Of course, Percy knew what he was doing was wrong, but he was known for making stupid decisions. Like that one time he'd decided to go out and get a nose piercing and then totally regretted it once the guy had finished the job (he stopped wearing the piercing a month later and the hole closed, which defeated the point of getting a piercing in the first place.) Or the time he'd went skinny-dipping in the courtyard's fountain after being dared to and then was caught by a dean. Or the time - well, you get the point.

Percy was stupid.

So he wasn't all too surprised when the blonde's eyes flew open just as he was pulling away.

Jason stared wide-eyed and in shock at Percy, while the green-eyed boy kept his eyes on the ceiling, mentally willing it to collapse on him so that he wouldn't have to admit to what he'd been doing a second before because no, he was too prideful to stoop that low. Percy Jackson never admitted anything, even if he was wrong and out of place. Which he was in the current situation.

The blonde opened and closed his mouth several times before he asked in a calm voice, "What were you doing, Jackson?" Though, they both knew the answer.

"I thought I saw something on your lips..," Percy trailed off, peering at Jason out of the corner of his eye to see if he was buying into his lame ass excuse. He wasn't.

"So you kissed me?"

"Uh, yeah?"

Jason gave him a look that had him one word away from admitting to everything. He glanced at the door, calculating how long it'd take for him to reach it and bolt out of the room like... well, Usain Bolt.

"Percy - "

And with a punch to Jason's balls, Percy had launched himself across the bed and was darting towards the door in such a way that he doubted his choice in choosing swimming as his sport. (He could run pretty fast in desperate situations.) Percy shoved several guys out of his way, clutching his head as they yelled obscene words at him because he had a huge hangover, which he was now hyperaware of, and rushed into the bathroom. He dove into a stall and locked it.

"Shit," he cursed once he realized he was probably the dumbest person in the world right now.

Why, you ask?

Because:

A) He was now hiding in the girls' bathroom. (How else would you explain the heels he could see peeking out from under the door?)

B) His first class was starting in approximately, eh, two minutes and in said class, he sat next to a blonde named Jason Grace. (His luck was really running low.)

And C) He was still wearing his clothes from the previous night, which meant he'd have to go back in his dorm room to change and face Jason and that was so not an option.

Oh, and did he mention that he was seriously questioning his sexuality right now?

So he did the only logical thing he could do at the moment - he pulled out his phone and dialed Rachel Elizabeth Dare and willed her to answer the damn phone before he horribly screwed up his life some more.

"Percy?" A girl's voice echoed in his ear and he'd never been so glad to hear her voice in his life.

"Rach, I screwed up," he stated.

Percy could imagine her throw her head back in laughter, flaming curls flying everywhere as she snorted. "That's generally what you do on a daily basis."

"No, like I really screwed up," he replied, glancing down at his feet that were only covered in socks. Great. He ran a hand through his hair agitatedly, messing it up more in the process.

"What happened, Jackson? And don't lie to me because you're a horrible liar."

And then Percy explained the whole Jason situation, telling her about meeting the blonde boy, the party, and then waking up next to him and doing, well, something inappropriate and ending up in the girl's bathroom. He really hoped no one was listening outside his stall because what he was saying would make great school gossip.

"Stop laughing at me," Percy whined, his face turning red from embarrassment even though she couldn't see him. "It's not even funny."

"You're right, it's not funny. It's freaking hilarious," Rachel giggled. "Alright, I'm on my way over."

And then Percy was confined to the stall for about ten minutes while he waited for his red-headed friend to arrive, leaving him alone with his wandering thoughts. He was desperately trying not to think about Jason - why was it always blondes? - and resorted to playing Flappy Bird to pass the time. What? He had an extreme case of ADHD, did you expect him to just stand there awkwardly?

Yeah, that's what he thought.

"Percy?"

"Rachel!" He opened the door and had never been so glad to see Rachel in his life. He instantly wrapped his arms around her in a hug, smelling her strawberry shampoo.

She pulled away, pushing back the floral headband that kept her curls out of her face and due to their height difference, smirked up at Percy knowingly. "Since you're avoiding your room because of - "

"Don't say it!" He held his hands up.

" - him, you can chill out in mine until you're class is over." Rachel grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him out of the bathroom, earning a couple of curious stares from onlookers. Several guys gave Percy a thumbs up and he would've smirked back, but he was too preoccupied with trying to keep up with the red head.

She continued talking, crossing the courtyard to the girls' dorm, "I've got some of your clothes left from the last time you spent the night, really, you're always forgetting things in my room, and why do smell like vodka?"

Percy almost lied, but obviously not telling the truth wasn't working out for him today, so after mentally preparing himself to get reprimanded, he said, "I went to a party."

"Really?" Rachel sent him a look as she stopped in front of the door to her dorm room. "You know you're not supposed to be drinking, Percy. Remember that promise that we made about your stepfather - "

"I'm not going to turn out like Gabe," he growled, glaring at the red-headed girl who had the same fierce look on her face.

Then, Percy's features softened as he fell back against the wall, sliding down to rest against the floor. He rested his head in his hands and felt his body begin to shake as his vision became fuzzier and fuzzier. Crap, he was crying. Percy sniffled, wiping his nose against the sleeve of his hoodie.

"I'm just so confused, Rach," he confessed to her. "It's like - like everything is falling apart, you know? Annabeth breaks up with me, the swim team is absolute shit and I'm the one pulling most of the weight, and then I kiss a freakin' guy. I'm not even gay!"

Rachel crossed her arms over her chest, looking down on him - both literally and figuratively. Honestly, she did feel bad for Percy. She could tell he was conflicted from the way he kept running his hands through his hair in agitation and his continuous ranting.

So being the bestest best friend in the world that she was, Rachel kneeled next to Percy and put on her most genuine smile, which now that she probably thought about it, it must've seemed really fake.

"How about we watch Finding Nemo and I'll bake some cookies and then we can have a one-on-one about all of your problems?" She offered.

Percy perked up at that, eyebrows raised curiously. "Blue chocolate chip cookies?"

Rachel scoffed, "What else did you expect, Jackson?"

He grinned mischievously. Did he ever mention that Rachel was pretty much the best friend in the world?

* * *

><p><strong>btw, don't forget to review! I hate saying that, but I like knowing what your opinions are, like for example, if I need to improve on anyone's character, what you want to see happen, etc . I like knowing how I can better my writing and also, I haven't read past SoN - I know, I know, it's horrible - but I want to make sure their personalities are as close to the books as possible, even if this story is in an alternate universe.<strong>

**So yeah, review! :)**

**Thank youuuu **

**- Hazel x**


	6. Chapter 6

Jason sat in his Latin class, eyes trained on the classroom door, waiting for the boy that occupied the empty chair next to him to barge in with his lop-sided grin and stupidly green eyes. Glancing at the clock, he noticed that there was only five minutes left in class - a sure sign that Percy wasn't coming.

Jason wondered - _no, he knew_ - that it had to do with the kiss that they shared earlier that morning. Right after it happened, Percy had ran out of the room, looking as if kissing Jason was the worst thing that he could've done in his life. He knew that Percy regretted it the second after it happened and Jason wasn't sure if it was because of him or not.

Sure, maybe his shocked reaction could've scared Percy off, but how else was he supposed to react? He woke up being kissed on the lips by the guy he was pretty sure was gay! (Or bisexual? Jason wasn't even sure anymore.)

Anyways, Percy probably didn't even think when he was kissing him, since he was in the stage between being seriously drunk and having a killer hangover. Jason remembered reading somewhere that the lines were blurred when people were intoxicated and they often didn't know the difference between right and wrong. And that was the problem Jason was having - he didn't know if what Percy did was right or wrong.

Yeah, Jason had had an attraction to the green-eyed boy the moment he'd saw him, but there was so many things that were wrong in the situation. One, Percy was still in love with his ex-girlfriend, Annabeth; two, their fathers had that whole rivalry thing going on; and three, Jason wasn't ready for a new relationship, or any relationship.

He had his education and football to focus on at the moment. Scouts from professional football teams were watching him now that he was a sophomore and even though he was great at football, he still wanted a career to fall back on just in case something happened. And with having to juggle his schooling, sports, and a boyfriend, that would definitely be too much on his plate. Plus, Percy was captain of the swim team - surely he had better things to do then date a blonde-haired blue-eyed football player.

"Jason," a voice called, breaking him out of his thoughts.

Jason shook his head and raised his eyebrows. "Hmm?" He asked, looking at Mr. Brunner, who sat at the front of the classroom with a smirk on his face.

"You must be in deep thought about something, Mr. Grace," he commented, waggling his finger at the blonde.

"Why would you say that?"

"You haven't taken any notes during the duration of this class and you fail to notice that you're the only one in the room," Mr. Brunner chuckled softly, pointing at the clock that hung above the doorway. "Class is already over."

Jason felt himself blushing as he looked around the room, finally noticing that all of the desks around him were empty, the only evidence that they'd ever been occupied in the first place being the stray pieces of paper left on the desk tops. He looked back at his Latin teacher, suddenly feeling foolish for not realizing that the class had ended about ten minutes ago.

"I'm sorry," Jason apologized, the words falling from his lips before he could think about it. "I didn't realize that it was so late."

Mr. Brunner held his hand up, silencing the blonde. "Don't apologize, _parva leves capiunt animas_."

Jason frowned, mentally trying to translate the words to English in his mind. And then he smiled a bit when it clicked and said, "Small things occupy light minds."

"I've taught you well, my boy!" The older man laughed, pushing his wheelchair towards his desk and grabbing his briefcase. He set it down in his lap, "As much I'd love to chit-chat with you, Mr. Grace, I've got to be heading out. I expect to see you in class tomorrow?"

Jason gathered his belongings together and rushed to help his teacher with the door, holding it open like a true gentleman. "Of course, I can't risk missing any of my classes."

Mr. Brunner rolled past him, saying, "Oh how I wish you would rub off on Mr. Jackson. Speaking of him, do you mind informing him that my class is equally as important as his swimming? I'm afraid that his priorities are elsewhere."

Jason found himself slightly tensing up at the mention of the green-eyed boy and Mr. Brunner was quick to notice, but said nothing, instead settling for sending the young blonde an expectant look. Jason ran a hand through his hair, softly cursing under his breath. He didn't want to have to face Percy any time soon, but once he made a promise, he never broke that promise, and that was his teacher wanted him to do - promise to talk to Percy about missing his class.

"I, uh, suppose I can talk to Percy," Jason stuttered out.

"Good, because here he comes."

He looked up to see a certain black-haired teen strolling towards him, hands deep in his pockets and a dejected look on his face as his eyes met his. Jason momentarily panicked, turning to face his teacher and prepared to say _no, he can't talk to Percy_, but Mr. Brunner was already gone.

"Hey."

He looked up into green eyes as deep as the ocean and responded with a lame, "Hi."

Percy's hand went up to tug at the blue beanie that was covering his hair, a few strands peaking out underneath as if they were trying to escape. Jason could tell that he was uncomfortable and he didn't blame him. Honestly, he felt like running, too.

"Look," Percy started, biting his lip, "can we just ignore what happened earlier? I mean, I know that it was totally out of hand and you're probably disgusted in me and - "

"I'm not disgusted in you," Jason quickly said, shaking his head a little harder than necessary. "If you feel that way, it's fine. I'm not going to judge you or anything."

"That's the thing! I _don't_ feel that way."

Ouch.

Jason felt like he was being stabbed straight in the heart. He might've said that he didn't want a relationship, but he still wanted Percy to like him as much as he liked him.

He tried not to appear too hurt by Percy's words, nodding and muttering, "Yeah, I get what you're saying..."

"We can still be friends, though, right?" Percy asked hopefully, taking a step towards the blonde. A smile was now on his face, green eyes sparkling and Jason just couldn't say no to that face.

"Yeah, friends," he agreed.

And then he was enveloped in a big hug, the scent of coconut and the beach overwhelming him as he rested his chin on Percy's shoulder. He closed his eyes and tried to remember the feeling of the green-eyed boy's arms wrapped around him comfortingly, but the embrace was over too quickly, with Percy pulling away.

_Absolutely friend-zoned_, Jason thought as he watched Percy leave without even a look over his shoulder.


	7. Chapter 7

**(Sorry guys, but this isn't really an update. I went ahead and separated the old chapter six into two chapters**.**Sorry if you thought this was an update.)**

* * *

><p>"Remind me why I'm doing this again," said Jason, looking around the dark and empty courtyard. It was so early in the morning that the sun wasn't even out yet.<p>

Percy sent him a look, his grip tightening around the collars of the two goats he was holding onto. No one even bothered to question where exactly he'd gotten the animals. "Because, Luke said he could pull off a better prank than me, which is totally not true. Right, Leo?"

"Definitely," the Latino boy said, "but does it still count as _your_ prank if Jason and I are helping you?"

"Shut up, Leo."

"But you just asked - "

The glare that Percy sent Leo instantly shut him up and he settled for fiddling with the binoculars that were in his hands. His job was the lookout, which required him to be absolutely still and quiet, two things that Leo couldn't be even if he tried. He suspected that Percy just wanted to be with Jason, since the blonde was going to help him release the goats, cover his back, et cetera, et cetera.

And Leo might play stupid, but he was a lot smarter than he let on. He didn't miss the looks Percy sent Jason when he wasn't looking or the redness of his face whenever the blonde touched his arm or any other part of his body. (Ew, not like that, you dirty-minded person.)

It was obvious that Percy had some deeper feelings toward Jason, but was too stubborn to admit it. And Leo was determined to get the two together because he was really getting tired of hearing his best friend complain about the green-eyed boy. Plus, he'd rack up some serious best friend points.

"So when are we going to actually start?" Jason asked Percy, electric blue eyes shining even in the darkness.

"Now, I guess," the green-eyed boy murmured, but made no move to leave.

Leo rolled his eyes and shoved both of the boys out from behind the bush they were hiding behind.

"Have fun with your boyfriend, Jason!" He called out, laughing at the blonde's horrified expression.

* * *

><p>Jason was seriously thinking about murdering his best friend and leaving him buried in a field somewhere in the middle of Nebraska.<p>

About two months ago, him and Percy had made that agreement to stay strictly friends and even though they had grown closer, they shared nothing more than insignificant touches and laughs. Jason had managed to keep his feelings towards Percy locked up until tonight - or more specifically, until Leo had called the green-eyed boy his boyfriend, which he definitely wasn't, much to his disappointment.

And now Jason was super nervous being in such close contact with Percy. His heart was beating a mile a minute, his hands were growing clammy with sweat, and he was pretty sure his face was completely red from utter embarrassment.

Percy simply raised his eyebrows at Jason, a small smirk evident on his lips. "Really? Boyfriend? I thought Leo would be able to come up with better insults by now." He laughed.

"I know right," Jason replied, clearing his throat, eager to change the subject. "So where are we going to release them?"

"I was thinking about putting number one on the football field and number three somewhere near building eleven - y'know, so the dean would think the culinary majors ordered the wrong kind of goat or something."

Jason let out a loud and totally unrestricted laugh and Percy stared at him amusedly. It was the first time he'd ever heard the blonde laugh like that. Most of the time when Jason found something remotely funny, he'd either smile or chuckle softly, but he'd never _LOL_'ed before.

"What?" he asked and the blonde simply shook his head.

"You should put number three in the girl's dorm building," he said, pointing at the large stone building to their right. "I mean, imagine how funny it'll be when they wake up and find a goat in the hallway."

"Since when did you get better than me at pranking, Grace?" Percy said, playfully bumping his shoulder against the blonde's.

"Probably from hanging around you too much. You're a devil child."

"I am not!" Percy shouted, laughing. "Just because I get into a lot of accidents doesn't mean I'm evil."

Jason raised his eyebrows. "Oh, really? Because I'm pretty sure putting blue dye into Connor's hair gel wasn't an '_accident_'." He made little air quotes when he said the word accident just to prove his point.

"Actually, it was, I meant to put it in Travis's hair gel." Percy smirked smugly.

"Oh my God, you're so stupid," Jason said as they approached the girls' dorm building and they both stepped the foyer, a large room that resembled something like a hotel lobby with a intricate glass chandelier hanging above their heads and fancy furniture. It was a lot fancier then the boys' but hey, they were girls. They liked for everything to be over the top.

"And that's exactly why you love me." Percy brushed past him, walking towards the elevator.

Jason almost tripped over his feet in shock at the older boy's words, fully prepared to land face-first in the plush carpet underneath his feet. And then he realized that Percy was only joking.

"Whatever," he scoffed, rolling his eyes, but his cheeks proved otherwise. This was _so_ not a whatever.

Percy punched the little glowing arrow that pointed upwards and the elevator doors whooshed open, revealing an empty chamber. He let out a maniacal laugh, earning himself a raised eyebrow from Jason, as he ushered one of the goats into the small space, the animal letting out a loud '_baaah_.'

"One goat out of the way," Percy announced, literally skipping out of the building, leaving Jason to scramble after him into the cool night air.

"You're crazy," Jason said, finally hit with the severity of what they were doing. "Imagine how much trouble we can get in. There's cameras everywhere watching us."

Percy sighed and draped an arm around Jason's shoulder. "Dude, don't worry. I had Leo hack into the security system and disable the cameras earlier and I'm a pro at this, remember?"

"That's what you said before you got caught cheating off my paper," Jason mumbled, handing the green-eyed boy the key to the gate around the football field. Percy unlocked it and let the goat loose go onto the field.

"Well, this time, it's different. Trust me," said Percy, locking the door back before turning to face the blonde.

"Yeah, right."

Percy dropped his arm down from Jason's shoulder so that he was now holding his hand. He stepped closer to the blonde, so close that their chests were almost touching and he could hear Jason's heart beating rapidly.

"What would get you to trust me on this?" the green-eyed boy asked, squeezing the blonde's hand gently. "A kiss?" he offered.

Was Jason dreaming? He had to be dreaming. Percy was offering to kiss him while he wasn't drunk. He felt like the world and everything he knew was crumbling beneath his feet.

"But you're not - "

"Gay?" Percy finished for him. Jason nodded, wide-eyed. "Yeah, I know. I heard you talking to Leo about me and I just - I really like you, Jay, more than as a friend and when I said that I wanted us to be just friends, that was mostly just me trying to get rid of my feelings towards you, but I can't. I can't get enough of the way you look at me like I'm the best person in the world, the way your eyes sparkle, and your laugh. You're special, Jason, because you're the only guy I've ever had feelings for and it freaked me out - that's why I ran away that morning. I thought you would hate me for having feelings towards you."

"I could never hate you, Percy," Jason told him. "I'm definitely not one to judge you because I _only_ like guys. Or more specifically guys with green eyes and black hair."

Percy smiled widely, dimples showing as he grinned. His eyes were drawn to the blonde's lips. "I think I'm going to kiss you now." He warned before closing the distance between their lips.

Jason wrapped his arms around the older boy's neck, kissing him passionately. It was probably the best kiss he'd ever had, his toes curling and eyes shut tight. Suddenly, a thought crossed his mind.

He pulled away to ask, "What happened to goat number two?"

"There is no goat number two." Percy smirked before capturing Jason's lips into another kiss.

And somewhere far away, Leo was listening to the two through the walkie-talkie that was in Percy's back pocket, feeling quite satisfied that his plan had actually worked.

Leo had created the master plan of framing Luke for the prank that he pulled on Percy a week ago, leaving behind a note that had spurred the green-eyed boy on to pull an even bigger prank. Then, he'd simply made sure to bring up Percy in a conversation while said boy eavesdropped and _BAM_! Everything had fallen into place.

He knew Jason would eventually chicken out because he was a goody-two shoes and Percy would try to convince him that it was okay.

Honestly, Leo deserved a Nobel Peace Prize for doing this. Though, he had to keep his mouth shut about the whole thing or else he'd suffer the wrath of Jason Grace, which was something he did not want a repeat of. His whole body was sore for a entire week the last time he'd done something to get on Jason's bad side.

Leo couldn't wait to brag about this to Piper.

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, so this chapter was ridiculously cute and fluffy and just full of Jercy. This is the longest chapter I've ever written, but it was fun to write so I really didn't notice. Also, I realized that Nico, Hazel, and Frank aren't in the story and I'm planning on working them in somehow.<strong>

**Should I have Nico like Percy in this story or not?**

**I kinda feel like having Jercy and Percabeth is enough, though.**

**Leave what you think in a review! :)**

**- Hazel x**


	8. Chapter 8

There was a knock on Jason's dorm room door, causing the blonde to groan before he answered it. His attitude quickly changed, though, once he caught sight of his boyfriend standing in his doorway.

"Hi." He said.

"Hey," Percy winked at him, inviting himself into the room and laying eagle spread on Jason's bed. He grinned at the blonde, "So do you know what today is?"

"Wednesday?" Jason deadpanned, causing the green-eyed boy to laugh and shake his head. "What is it then?"

"The big swim meet," said Percy, throwing his hands up in exasperation. "You know, the meet before state championship. The meet where there'll be a whole bunch of scouts. The meet I've been telling you about for the past week?"

Jason groaned and ran a hand over his face.

Percy sat up on his elbows. "You forgot, didn't you?"

"I've just been so busy with all of my classes and football and I've got a shit-load of material to cover for my test in Physics," the blonde said, gesturing towards the stack of books from the library and the mountain of notes he'd taken. "I promise I'll make it to the next meet."

Percy raised an eyebrow. "Like you promised to come tonight?"

"Percy." Jason sat on the bed next to his boyfriend, taking his hand in his. "I swear I'll make it to the next meet. Gay scout's honor."

The green-eyed boy laughed, "Really, Grace?"

"What, Jackson? It's the only legit swear," Jason replied without missing a beat, leaning over to plant a kiss to Percy's lips.

He pulled away, but the green-eyed boy had other plans. He wrapped a hand around the back of Jason's neck and pulled him in for another kiss, this one lasting a lot longer and way more passionate.

Percy's tongue grazed along the blonde's lower lip, asking for permission to enter. Jason gladly obliged and let the older boy explore his mouth, a small moan escaping from his throat. Before he knew it, Percy broke the kiss and was already standing.

"As much fun as kissing you is, I really must be going," Percy announced, holding out a hand to help the blonde off of the bed. Jason accepted it and was lifted to his feet.

"Do you have to go?"

"If I don't want to disappoint my dad," Percy mumbled so low that Jason almost didn't hear it.

He sighed and gave the green-eyed boy one last chaste kiss before shoving him out of his room, saying, "You have to go before you're late...again. Good luck."

And then Percy was off, leaving Jason to himself. He turned around to face the pile of work he'd made that was increasing in size every second he stared at it.

If he wanted to be done by at least midnight, he'd have to start now. Ugh.

* * *

><p>"Hello?" Jason asked once he slid his fingers across his iPhone's screen. He stuck the phone in between his ear and his shoulder and continued working, hastily finishing his study guide.<p>

"Hi, is this, um, Jason Grace?"

He frowned, setting his pencil on the desk's surface. He didn't recognize the woman's voice at all.

"Yes," he replied, "and who is this?"

"I'm Mellie, the receptionist at Hospital." The lady on the phone answered him. On the other end, he could hear people yelling out orders and fingers tapping loudly on keyboards. "There's been an accident."

"What happened?"

"You're Percy Jackson's boyfriend, am I correct?"

_Oh God_.

If something happened to Percy, he didn't know what he would do. He stared at the wall in front of him, afraid to speak because he knew that if he did, his voice would crack. After a couple of seconds, he managed to croak out, "Is Percy okay?"

"Yes, he's - "

"Can I talk to him?"

"He's in a coma."

"What do you mean he's in a coma?" Jason roared, his grip tightening around the phone. "You said he was okay! Is he going to wake up?"

"He's stable, but there's not a one hundred percent chance that he'll wake up," Mellie replied after a beat, and then she said, "I'm sorry, I have to go. There's someone with an emergency on the other line."

The phone beeped in Jason's ear, signalling that the receptionist had hung up.

Jason felt like he'd just gone through a grueling six hour football practice. His mouth was dry, his limbs felt like lead, and he felt like he was going to throw up everything he ate in the past twelve hours. All he wanted to do was curl under his covers and close his eyes and hope when he opened them, Percy would be beside him, holding him in his muscular arms. There was no way his Percy wouldn't wake up - he was a fighter.

And Jason was going to fight for him, too.

Pulling on a pair of Converse, Jason stuck his phone in his back pocket just in case the hospital called him again with new information and ran out to his car. It took him fifteen minutes to get the hospital, mostly because he took shortcuts and ran several red lights. The only thing on his mind was _Percy, Percy, Percy_.

Jason parked his car and barrelled through the hospital's doors, running up to the receptionist's desk. A petite woman with elf-like features looked up at him, her brown eyes wide. Before she could open her mouth, he said a bit too harshly, "What room is Percy Jackson in?"

"I'm sorry, but visiting hours are over." She said, pointedly looking at the clock on the wall behind Jason. He recognized her as Mellie, the lady who was on the phone with him earlier. "You can come back tomorrow."

Jason had to resist the urge to grab her by the collar of her white button-up (mostly because she was a girl and he was a gentleman), instead settling for leaning over the desk, his nose mere centimeters away from hers. "My boyfriend is somewhere in one of these rooms and is suffering from an injury that I learned about only fifteen minutes ago. I think I deserve to visit him, even if it is only for a couple of minutes, don't you?"

Mellie sighed, pulling out a piece of paper from one of the desk's drawers and quickly scribbled something down on it.

"You have twenty minutes," was all she said as she slid the paper towards him.

Jason thanked her before heading down a long corridor with an elevator at the end of it. He entered the elevator, pushing the button for the third floor, like the paper instructed. When he exited, he walked down the hallway, searching for room 128. He found it and stood outside of the door, feeling like his stomach was making its way up his throat. Of course, Jason wanted to see his boyfriend, but he was also a bit scared of the fact that Percy might not wake up. That was like his worst nightmare coming true.

Swallowing the lump in his throat, Jason grasped the cold doorknob in his hand and swung open the door.

He didn't know what he was expecting exactly, but he did not expect to see a blonde girl sitting in a chair next to Percy's bed, her fingers intertwined with his boyfriend's. Her eyes flicked up to meet his, grey eyes looking him up and down as if she was trying to figure out what he was doing in Percy's room. He could totally ask her the same thing, but that's pretty much what he didn't do.

Instead, he said something like, "Uh, w-who are you?"

The girl stood, sauntering over to stand directly in front of Jason. She crossed her arms over her chest, narrowing her eyes a bit. He noticed that she gave off the vibe that she knew Percy well and was protective of him.

"I'm Annabeth Chase," she said slowly, "who are _you_?"

Jason scoffed a little, rolling his eyes. "Oh, you're the infamous Annabeth?"

"Excuse me?" She asked with a raised eyebrow. "Do you know Percy?" She gestured towards the black-haired teen that laid in the bed they were now standing in front of and Jason finally got a good look at his boyfriend.

He walked up to bed, looking at how broken Percy seemed, tied up to all sorts of beeping machines through two clear tubes that went into his nostrils. Jason couldn't believe that Percy couldn't even breathe on his own. His boyfriend, who was the most independent person he knew (when it didn't include schoolwork).

Jason ran a hand through Percy's hair and he swore he saw him move into the touch.

"Do you know what happened?" He asked Annabeth suddenly. She nodded, pulling down the sleeves of her maroon sweater over her hands.

"Yeah, the doctors said he went into a coma from holding his breath too long. Most people in the aquatics community call it '_shallow water blackout_,' which is the unexplained loss of consciousness." Annabeth explained as if what she was saying was easy to follow. While she spoke, she made little gestures with her hands that Jason, if he were straight, would've found cute, "In essence, descending through the water compresses the gas in the lungs, driving more gas into the blood.

This increases the amount of oxygen available to be taken in, and as the diver ascends through the water, still holding their breath, the blood oxygen level falls much faster than it would without the vertical excursion. Since the relative pressure change is the greatest in the shallowest water, it's pretty normal for blackout to occur in the final stage or just after surfacing, hence the adoption of the term."

Now, Jason prided himself on his level of intelligence, but even he had gotten lost during her 'little' speech somewhere at the term shallow water blackout. He stared at her with his mouth wide open, vaguely wondering how Percy could date someone like Annabeth. She was literally a walking encyclopedia while Percy, on the other hand, wasn't exactly book-smart.

Needless to say, Jason was impressed and slightly wary of his new competition for Percy's affection. Annabeth was undoubtedly gorgeous, what with her princess curls and that California girl look she possessed, and was pretty damn smart. It was no wonder she'd caught Percy's eye in the past.

"Oh," Jason said, looking down at his feet. The one swim meet he didn't go to and this is what happened. A visit to the hospital and the return of his boyfriend's ex-girlfriend.

Just then, a nurse walked in carrying a wooden clipboard and looked at them both with a stern look. "It's after visiting hours," the woman said, "you two are going to have to leave. I'm sorry."

Jason began to leave, but Annabeth stayed behind, simply holding up her hand to show the nurse the blue wristband that was wrapped around her wrist. Jason hadn't noticed it earlier and he wondered why he didn't have one. He was Percy's boyfriend and yet here she was, showing up out of the blue and getting special treatment.

"I'm a partner in a care," Annabeth said, eyes trained on Jason, rather than the nurse. "The patient's mother sent me here for her while she's on a plane from New York."

Percy's mother sent her? From New York? How long had the two dated if Percy's mom had her on freakin' speed-dial?

The nurse nodded and left after Jason told her he'd be leaving in a minute. He turned to face the other blonde, plastering a wide (and totally fake) smile on his face.

"By the way, I'm Jason Grace," he introduced himself. "Percy's _boyfriend_."

And then he exited the room, smirking to himself, once he saw Annabeth's shocked expression.

* * *

><p><strong>Aaaaaaaand they meet.<strong>

**I really hope I did Annabeth justice. I mean, I didn't want her to come off as a female dog, _if you know what I mean_, but she's not supposed to be all buddy-buddy with Jason, you know?**

**Also, shallow water blackout is a real thing, but idk if it can actually happen in swimming, since it's more of a diving thing. But whatever, it works fine enough. I just thought a shoulder injury was too mainstream yo ;)**

**Sorry if I bored you to death with Annabeth's monologue, though. If you skipped over it, then I achieved my goal! Haha.**

**Don't forget to review and thanks for all of your support. Keep being amazing!**

**- Hazel x**

**(P.S. I decided that Nico won't like Percy in this story. If I did that it'll be too much and I haven't even introduced him as a character soooo yeaaah.)**


	9. Chapter 9

While staying at the hospital, Jason learned three new things.

One, Annabeth was not good at small talk.

_Example:_

_"What college do you go to, Annabeth?"_

_"Berkeley."_

_..._

_"How old are you?"_

_"Twenty-one."_

_..._

_"What's your major?"_

_"If I answer, will you stop asking me questions?"_

_"Sure."_

_"Architecture."_

_"Cool."_

_"Now be quiet, I'm trying to go to sleep."_

Two, the hospital food was absolutely horrid. It was like a cross between those microwave dinners from Dollar Tree and the lunch food back in high school. It was still food though, so Jason couldn't really complain.

Wait.

Actually, Jason _could_ complain because while he was sitting in the most uncomfortable chair in the world, debating whether or not he should become anorexic, Annabeth was sitting on the edge of Percy's bed, smirking at him and shoveling spoons of Chipotle into her mouth.

Damn her.

Anyways, the third thing he learned was the name of a boy he met in the elevator. His name was Nico di Angelo.

Jason had first met the dark-haired teen on the elevator when he was leaving the hospital for his psychology class. Nico was leaning against the wall, headphones plugged into his ears and his head casted down. He bopped his head softly to the music.

When the blonde stepped into the elevator, the boy simply looked up and gave him the tiniest nod as a form of greeting. His eyes watched Jason carefully and he found himself squirming under the gaze of a boy who couldn't be more than eighteen years old, at least a year younger than himself.

"What are you here for?" Jason blurted out and then nearly face-palmed because the boy obviously wasn't listening to him. Obviously.

"Hmm?" The dark-haired boy raised an eyebrow and removed just one earphone from his ear - his way of saying 'don't talk to me.'

Jason felt stupid all of sudden, his cheeks turning a dark shade of red as he stuttered out, "I-I asked what you're here for. I mean, there's obviously not something wrong with you." He waved his hand up and down in a gesture that was lost even to him.

"My sister broke her arm," the boy said, wrapping his black aviator's jacket tighter around himself. Jason noticed that he wore all black - a little goth, but not quite. He was missing the black eyeliner. Though, the boy would totally be able to pull off the look. He was cute, but definitely not Jason's type. "You?"

"My boyfriend was in a swimming accident and's in a coma." Jason said, shrugging. Then before he could stop himself he continued on, "We were getting pretty serious and then this happened and his ex-girlfriend showed up out of blue, which probably shouldn't bother me as much as it does and ... you probably think I'm crazy right now." He laughed to himself, shaking his head and wondering why he was talking to a complete stranger about his life problems.

"I don't," the boy replied, his eyes pure black as they focused on Jason. "Everyone's got a little bit of crazy."

They were silent for a while until Jason noticed that the elevator hadn't moved since he stepped in.

"Why aren't we moving?" He asked, biting his lip.

"Because you didn't push the button," the boy chuckled.

"Oh, wow." Jason said sarcastically and stepped forward to push the button for the lobby, groaning inwardly at the fact that he was probably going to be late for class. Again. As of late, his punctuality had really been suffering.

Jason leaned against the wall, crossing his arm over his chest and watching as the boy pushed one of the glowing buttons - number two. "I feel like I've seen you before."

"Do you go to Olympus?"

"Yeah," he nodded.

"That's probably why. I go there, too."

"Freshman?"

"Unfortunately," the boy said and then raised an eyebrow. "Wait, you're on the football team, right?"

The blonde grinned to himself. "Yep, number three, star running back."

The elevator doors opened then, revealing the fourth floor of the hospital. A couple stood in the doorway with agitated expressions, waiting to board the elevator.

Jason turned to the dark-haired boy, extending out a hand. "Well, it was nice meeting you, ... "

"Nico," the boy offered, shaking Jason's hand. "Nico di Angelo."

"Nico," the blonde said. "I'm Jason Grace."

* * *

><p>Over the next couple of days, Jason was what you would call 'on edge.' He kept checking his call history on his phone and he wore his old gray Olympus hoodie for the whole week because between worrying about Percy's health and school, he honestly didn't care about his appearance. (Thalia, though, teased him relentlessly about his latest wardrobe staple, saying, "<em>You're gay, you're supposed to be fashion forward<em>!" Which was followed by a series of incessant giggles.)

"Ugh," Jason groaned, closing his eyes and shoving his phone back in his pocket. "The hospital was supposed to call by now!"

Leo sent him a pitiful look from where he was slumped on his bed, his back against the wall. He pointed at Jason, "Dude, you need to relax. If Percy wakes up, his ex, Annabel or whatever, is there. I mean, what's the worse that could happen? It's not like they're gonna hook up in a hospital room."

Jason's eyes widened at the thought of Percy and Annabeth hooking up in the hospital room and Piper glared at the Latino.

"Leo," she said. "Not helping."

He held up his hands and shrugged. "Sorry," he apologized, glancing over at the blonde who was contemplating jumping out of the window of Leo's dorm room. It was only the second floor, the worst that could happen was a couple of scrapes and bruises. That wouldn't hurt too bad, right?

"... because you need to go out and - Jason, are you listening to me?" Piper was saying and said boy blinked slowly, realizing that he'd been too consumed in his thoughts of suicide to hear what the girl was saying.

"Huh?" he wondered out loud and Leo groaned, which seriously was not a good thing because he rarely payed attention to anything. He had a really severe case of ADHD and it was a miracle he'd even gotten into college - no offense, Leo.

"Were you even listening?" Piper questioned with a raised eyebrow.

Jason nodded a bit too enthusiatically. "Yeah, you were saying how I need to get out more and ... stuff." Leo snorted.

She rolled her eyes. "Leo and I are going to this party that Drew invited us to. You remember Drew, right?"

"She's your sister? She's Asian, right?"

"She's really hot," commented Leo, who they both ignored.

"Half Asian, but yeah." Piper waved her hand in the air dismissively before continuing, "My mom's throwing a surprise party for her since she got accepted by some big modelling agency in New York City and she said I can invite some friends over. You should totally come."

"Pipes, you know that I have to be here in case Percy wakes up - "

"Nope, you're going," she decided for him. She stood up and grabbed Jason's hand and dragged him out of the room. "No excuses!"

As the pair passed through the doorway, Jason grabbed onto the doorknob in an attempt to get away from Piper. "Help!" He called to Leo.

The Latino laughed, sauntering over to where Piper was trying to pull him off the door. "Sorry, bro, but I need another guy there. Do you know many parties that girl dragged - literally _dragged_ - me to?"

"Uh, one?"

"Hundreds!"

Piper rolled her eyes. "It was only, like, twenty."

"Still," Leo said. "A lot, so you're coming, Grace. You owe me."

Then Leo proceeded to release Jason's hand from the doorknob, sending the blonde flying through the door. He could hear Jason screaming all the way to the end of the hall.

* * *

><p>"Piper," Jason whined, tugging at the collar of the too tight polo he was wearing. "I told you that this shirt was too small."<p>

Piper sent him a glare over the punch table, her eyes turning from brown to a dark shade of green that vaguely reminded him of Percy as she poured red punch into a clear glass. "Shut up, you look nice," she said, tucking a lock of her choppy brown hair behind her ear. "Would you rather my mom dress you? She would probably make you wear a corset or something."

Jason laughed harshly, still adjusting his shirt. "I don't know if that would be better or worse."

"Worse, way worse," Piper confirmed, walking around the table to stand beside the blonde. She brought the glass up to her lips and with her other hand, pointed at a woman who was wearing a fancy red dress that looked like it came out of a Alexander McQueen catalogue. (Don't ask how he knew who that was.)

"That's my mom," Piper told Jason and if he were drinking something at the moment, he totally would've done a spit take.

"Aphrodite, the number one supermodel in the world, is your mom?" He asked, shocked. Piper shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal that her mother was on the cover of every posh magazine on the shelf.

Leo popped up beside them, laughing. "What happened to you, Piper? Didn't get the pretty gene?"

She rolled her eyes and sent Leo a look over the top of her glass. "I might be wearing a dress, but I can still kick your ass, Valdez."

"Shh, don't let mommy hear you curse. She might give you a make-over - "

"Wait," Piper held up a hand and both boys sent her curious glances. She nudged the blonde with her elbow as she said, "Who's the hottie checking you out, Jason?"

"Where?" He asked, looking around.

"At four o'clock."

He peeked over his right shoulder, past Leo and Piper, to see Nico leaning against a wall. (Seriously, every time Jason saw him he was leaning against something.) He still wore all black, but he had traded the leather aviator jacket for a tuxedo jacket - still black, of course. It was almost as if he was trying to blend in with the shadows, trying not to draw attention to himself.

Nico gave him the most minicule nod, his lips curling upwards in a smirk.

"Oh, that's Nico. I met him at the hospital a couple of days ago."

"He's totally into you." Piper said.

"I have a _boyfriend_," Jason pointed out.

"I'll take him off of your hands, then," said Leo, running his hands through his unruly dark curls. "How do I look?" He asked the two.

Jason gave him a thumbs up while Piper shrugged, indifferent. "You look like you always do," she commented off-handedly.

"I'm guessing smoking hot." He winked and then sauntered over to Nico, immediately engaging in conversation.

Piper sighed, turning to Jason with an annoyed look on her face. "This is why I didn't want to come with Leo. He always ditches me."

Before he could open his mouth, Aphrodite walked up to them, looking effortlessly beautiful as always. "Piper!" She exclaimed, engulfing her daughter in a hug that smelled of Chanel No. 5. "How are you, dear?" She asked, pulling away.

"I'm going to go," Jason said awkwardly, attempting to leave. He could sense they needed some mother-daughter bonding time from the way Piper was avoiding her mom's gaze.

"No!" Piper latched onto his arm, pulling him back to her side. Aphrodite looked between the two teens. "No, because I have to, uh, introduce you to my mom, Aphrodite. Aphrodite, this is Jason."

"Are you Piper's boyfriend?"

They both almost choked, shaking their heads and muttering incoherent things. Finally, Piper managed to say, "H-He's just a friend."

"Oh?" Aphrodite raised an eyebrow, giving them a tight-lipped smile.

"Yeah," Jason nodded.

"Yeah," Piper said.

The awkwardness between the trio was growing increasingly more... awkward.

And then Jason's phone rang and he almost jumped for joy. He meekly said excuse me and stepped outside to answer the call, which was from an unknown number.

"Hey," he said, "who's this?"

"Annabeth."

Jason frowned. "How did you get my number?"

"Percy's phone," she said as if it explained everything. "Anyways, I just called to let you know that Percy is supposed to wake up soon. Like tonight, maybe."

"Tonight?" He repeated, feeling his heart swell up with joy. He considered thanking all the gods that existed or maybe even crying. Mostly the former.

"Yeah."

"Alright, I'll be there as soon as possible."

Annabeth said okay and he hung up, running back to Piper, who was still having a conversation with her mom. Jason told her what Annabeth had said and Piper immediately perked up, offering him a ride, much to her mother's disappointment. "She'll get over it," Piper said when they got into her car.

They made it to the hospital and Jason ran up to the third floor, throwing open the room door with his heart hammering in his chest as his eyes met Percy's sea green ones. And then he noticed that Annabeth was laying on the bed beside Percy, holding hands with him.

Like a couple.

_Oh my God_, Jason thought, _they _did_ hook up_.

* * *

><p><strong>Umm, I have no idea what happened at the end there. Like honestly.<strong>

**This chapter was just going to be about Jason meeting Nico and then my fingers started typing and damn Leo for putting those thoughts in Jason's head. Ugh.**

**As always, review and stuff.**

**I love you, beautiful person! **

**- Hazel x**


	10. Chapter 10

The smell of antiseptic, white blinding light, and the soft beeps of a machine were the first things Percy was aware of as he woke up, blinking slowly. It took a couple of seconds for his eyes to adjust to the bright light and as they did, he saw a pair of familiar grey eyes and blonde princess curls.

Moaning, Percy leaned over the bed and began to dry heave, his throat dry and scratchy. He felt fingers carding through his hair in a way that was supposed to feel comforting. Though, what it really felt like was his heart trying to claw its way out of his chest, but unfortunately there was no word in the English dictionary for that.

"Percy?" She said. "Are you okay?"

Percy's sassy side felt like saying, "_If your definition of okay is just waking up from a freaking coma and feeling like complete shit, then yes_." But he didn't have the mind or energy to get those words out, so he just let out a noise that sounded like a dying hippo.

Annabeth ran out into the hallway and flagged down the nearest nurse. He could hear her yelling for them to get a doctor, spewing out orders like she was a doctor herself. She could've been, considering how smart she was.

She appeared back in the doorway, walking up to the bed and taking his hand in hers. Percy wanted to snatch his hand away, but he didn't have the energy to do that either. He hadn't eaten in days, he smelled like puke, and the first person he'd ever loved and had his heart broken by was holding his hand like the only thing that mattered was him.

And Percy knew that that was a complete lie.

The doctor strolled into the room at that moment. He was an older looking man with salt and pepper hair and a receding hairline. He also looked like he had drinking a dozen cups of coffee just to keep him up for the night, resembling something of Albert Einstein with the way he hair stuck up like he'd been electrocuted and the wire-rimmed glasses that sat firmly on the bridge of his nose.

As the doctor told Annabeth about Percy's condition - he was stable enough to be moved out of the intensive care unit - the green-eyed boy felt himself drifting away little by little as if he was being blown by the wind. Grey eyes connected with green just one more time before Percy let him succumb himself to the darkness that was starting to overwhelm him.

* * *

><p>The next time Percy came to, he felt the dip in the bed beside him, the cause being a body laying on the bed next to him, their legs pressed together from the hip down. He turned his head to see Annabeth laying beside him, her eyes focused so intently on the book she was reading that she didn't notice he was wide awake and watching her.<p>

Being this close to Annabeth, Percy noticed all the the things that had changed about her since he had last seen her.

Annabeth's hair was now more strawberry blonde than honey blonde, little tendrils of hair framing her face naturally and effortlessly in the way most girls took hours to do. Her cheeks were tinged with pink instead of the red he was used to and her eyes, _oh God_, those eyes.

He missed the way they turned to a lighter shade whenever she laughed or teased him, the color of the clouds after a rainstorm. He missed the way they turned dark like the smoke of a fire when she was angry.

Most of all Percy just missed her in general. The smell of her strawberry shampoo. Her dainty fingers intertwined with his. When she called him Seaweed Brain.

But the memories of those times also brought the heartache with it, too. The feeling like he was being strangled till the world was spinning below his feet and the thudding of his heart was a loud rhythm in his ears as she said those godforsaken words.

"_It's over, Percy_."

And then tossed him to the side as if he were the trash that deserved to be left on the curb.

The only thing was, when Monday came around and the garbage truck left, Percy was still sitting there on the curb outside of her apartment building. He had wanted to go back into her apartment to give her one last confession of his love and try to convince her that they were worth a second try. _That you couldn't just throw away a love like theirs._

And then Percy saw her enter her apartment with Luke. The same Luke who was the quarterback of Olympus. The same Luke who he had to pretend he didn't hate because he stole his Wise Girl and made her change schools to avoid him.

And up until now, Percy thought he had moved onto something bigger and better that was named Jason Grace, but when his eyes met Annabeth's, time stopped and he found himself wanting to brush her hair behind her ear like old times, even though he knew he couldn't.

Because things were different.

Because she didn't love him anymore.

Because he was dating Jason.

"Um," Annabeth said, looking away quickly. "You're probably thirsty."

She reached over to pick up a cup of water from the bedside table, turning to fully face him. "Drink," she commanded as she held the cup to his awaiting lips.

When he was done, Percy licked chapped lips, his throat feeling a lot less dry. "Thanks," he said, though it might have came out more sarcastic than he wanted it to.

Annabeth blinked in surprise, like he had slapped her with his words. She wrung her hands together and looked at him with a expression that resembled guilt. Percy would've been lying if he said some part of him was smiling in satisfaction.

"Look," she started, her eyes turning so dark they were almost black. "I'm sorry, Percy. I know that I hurt you a lot - "

"That's an understatement." He snapped, interrupting her. "You broke my heart, Annabeth. I've let my guard up and it's going to take a lot to make me trust you again."

"I know, Percy," she nodded, curls falling from the loose bun at the crown of her head. "I know. I've been replaced with Jason."

_No, you haven't_, Percy thought bitterly. He shut his eyes tightly and held he breath before letting it out like his counselor from anger management had told him to do. _In for one. Out for three._

Feeling the tension leave his body, Percy opened his eyes, meeting Annabeth's grey ones. He plastered an indifferent look on his face, the mask he often wore. "Can you get me some dinner?" He asked nonchalantly. "I'm hungry."

"Percy, you can't just change the subject. We've got to talk about this eventually." Annabeth insisted.

"No, we don't. I'm done with this conversation."

"Percy," she said softly, taking his hand again. His skin burned from her touch. "Look at me."

He did.

"I know you're dating Jason, but I still want to have you in my life, even if that means as a friend. When you left, everything changed. I didn't have anyone to talk to when Luke broke up with me because my best friend was gone. Do you think going to a new college and making new friends was easy? And not having someone to vent to at the end of the day?" Annabeth asked him, her voice cracking a bit. "God, I just... _I just miss you, Percy_."

He became too aware of their proximity to each other. Annabeth's body was pressed against his so that she could look at him. Her face was so close, her nose was barely brushing his. He could smell the mint on her breath.

Percy wished he could say something, _anything_. It was like he was in quicksand. The more he thought about Annabeth and what to say, the worse the situation got. It was taking all of his willpower to not say yes and kiss her like he'd wanted to for the past six months. It was crazy how she still had this affect on him, even after all this time.

But then Percy's eyes drifted to the door and he caught sight of a certain blue-eyed blonde in the doorway. Piper was standing behind him, grabbing his hand to try to pull him out of the room, but Jason was rooted there, eyes widened and mouth agape.

Percy tried to sit up, but the wires tangled around his arms and his chest were keeping him strapped down to the bed.

"I can explain," he said desperately, shaking Annabeth off of him and reaching for the only blonde that should matter to him right now. "It's not what it looks like."

It's funny how that was what everyone said when they were caught doing something that they shouldn't be doing.

Jason took a step back into Piper and let the girl tug him out of the room.

"Wait!" Percy called desperately. He thrashed around, trying to get out of the mess he was in - both literally and figuratively.

Jason didn't even glance over his shoulder not once.

Percy held his head in his hands, pulling his hair at the roots. He felt a hand on his back that was tracing patterns through the thin material of the hospital gown. He glared at the blonde girl beside him, his eyes churning like the angry ocean.

"Get out," he snarled. "I want to be alone."

"But - "

"Get out!" He yelled much louder than he needed to considering she was laying beside him.

Annabeth flinched, slinking away from him. She slid off the bed and gathered her bag off the chair in the corner of the hospital room. Slinging the bag over her shoulder, she settled him with her steely gaze.

"You should call him."

And if that wasn't the smartest thing to come out of those rose pink lips, then Percy didn't know what was.

* * *

><p><strong>Kay, so leave me a review telling me how that played out because I didn't want Annabeth to come off to much as a female dog. I mean, she and Percy have a lovehate relationship going on.**

**Also, I hope this helps you guys understand why they were laying in the same bed. I don't want Percy to come off as a douche bag, lol.**

**So YAAAAASSS, don't forget to review, follow, and favorite.**

**Love ya bunches!**

**- Hazel x**


	11. Chapter 11

Have you felt like your world was crumbling to pieces underneath your feet and you're unable to breath or do anything about it?

Well, that's how Jason felt.

He didn't know if he should've been like one of those crazy boyfriends who threw things across the room and punched walls or the boyfriend that cried for two weeks. Either way, seeing his boyfriend holding hands with his ex-girlfriend made his chest feel as if an elephant was sitting on him.

As he boarded the elevator, Piper squeezed his hand, bringing him away from his thoughts. He looked at her and her eyes changed from a honey brown to a dark blue.

"I think you should talk to him, Jason." Piper said and he let out an indignant huff. "It could all be a misunderstanding."

"A misunderstanding? He was holding hands with his ex and about to kiss her!" Jason exclaimed, waving his hands around wildly, which was totally unlike him. He liked to think he was too controlled to act that way, but that was just the affect Percy had on him.

"You're overreacting," Piper rolled her now hazel eyes. "Yes, Annabeth was probably making a move on Percy, but he cares too much about your relationship to hurt you. He's too loyal to do that."

Jason stayed silent as they walked out of the elevator and out of the hospital lobby to the parking lot. The whole way to the car Jason was quietly fuming, but he stayed quiet nonetheless, crossing his arms over his chest. The dark-skinned girl pulled her keys out of her the back pockets of her jeans, glancing over the top of the BMW at Jason.

"I'm going back to my mom's party to pick up Leo and then we're going to school." She stated, sitting in the driver's seat and igniting the engine. Jason knew that there was no arguing with her.

* * *

><p>Piper pulled into the mansion's driveway, the headlights illuminating two bodies in the darkness. Jason squinted and leaned forward, trying to see who the other person standing with Leo was.<p>

"Is that Nico?" He asked, once he recognized the dark hair and the aviator jacket.

"Yeah, Leo asked me if I could give him a ride to the school." Piper shrugged, unlocking the doors to let the pair in. Leo and Nico slid into the backseat and the Latino sighed, running his hands along the leather interior of the BMW.

"Every time I get in your car, Pipes, I remember how much I'm in love with it." Leo sighed, relaxing back into the seat.

"Yeah, yeah," she muttered underneath her breath as she backed out of the driveway, lookibg over her shoulder. "Don't get too attached."

Nico looked mighty confused, so Jason took it upon himself to turn around and explain the Latino's infatuation with Piper's car.

"He's majoring in mechanics," Jason informed him. "He has a special spot in his heart for BMW's."

"A special spot in my heart that you are longer a part of!" Leo glared at the blonde. He grabbed Nico's hand and the fleeting look of panic crossed the dark-haired teen's face. "You are now replaced with Nico, peasant."

Jason scoffed. "We'll see about that tomorrow when I don't give you any of my lunch."

"I thought you were too busy sharing it with your boyfriend, Percy, anyways."

And then the whole car fell silent, though for different reasons. Leo's eyes widened when he realized he'd gone too far with the joke, since he still thought that Percy was in a coma, Piper and Jason were thinking about what they had seen earlier at the hospital, and Nico was just really confused and trying not to make the conversation any more awkward.

"Wait, your boyfriend is Percy? As in _Percy Jackson_?" Nico spoke for the first time, sensing a substantial change in the tension in the car. Everyone turned to give him quizzical looks. Even Piper shot him a raised eyebrow though the rear view mirror and the dark-haired boy noticed that her hands were clenched so tightly around the steering wheel that they were turning white at the knuckles.

"Yeah," Jason said, breaking the awkward silence.

Before Nico could respond, Leo threw his arm around his shoulders and placed a wet kiss on the dark-haired boy's cheek. "Why worry about Percy when you have me?" He proclaimed (always the one to break the tension) and Nico shoved the Latino boy off of him, grumbling something about Leo being too touchy.

Jason didn't say anything after that. He just listened as the conversation just kept changing from topic to topic. He couldn't keep his mind off of how Nico knew Percy and why was he so surprised that he was dating Jason. Was he not good enough for Percy, looks wise and everything? Or did the two date, too?

Sighing, Jason simply shook his head and tried to keep his mind off the green-eyed boy.

* * *

><p>Jason looked at his phone once again as it vibrated, the screen lighting up with the name '<em>Percy Jackson<em>.' His finger hovered over the answer button. He wanted to answer it, he really did, but there was still that nagging voice in his head saying that Percy deserved it for what he did.

The phone fell silent and Jason checked his notifications for the hundredth time.

Twenty seven missed calls, twenty five voice mails, and nineteen text messages. The blonde bit his lip.

"You're going to have to talk to him eventually," Thalia said from across the table. Her raven hair was just as spiky as usual, reaching just below her shoulders, and her electric blue eyes were thickly surrounded by black eyeliner. She was frowning at Jason.

The two were eating breakfast together in the dining hall after the dark-haired girl forced him to get out of his room for something other than school and football. Jason had been reluctant but it was his sister. He couldn't just say no.

"I'll just avoid him until then." Jason replied smoothly. Like it was that simple.

She sent him a look, one eyebrow raised skillfully and eyes narrowed as she impaled a piece of her pancake as if it were going to run off the plate. Thalia did a lot of things forcefully, like how she always kicked open doors. There were hundreds of dusty shoe prints on the outside of her dorm room door from where she kicked it as she opened it.

"You can't avoid him forever, Jase. You two have a class together. It's not your fault he's a world class jerk."

"He's not a jerk," Jason mumbled under his breath. Thalia still heard him.

"Since when does laying in the same bed and holding hands with your ex not make you a jerk?" He could tell she was getting agitated now from the way her fists were clenched on the table. "He's playing with your emotions, Jason. He might be my friend but you come first. I won't hesitate to kick his ass if I have to."

"Please don't kick his ass." Jason said, remembering the last time she'd '_kicked someone's ass_.' Poor Kevin was sent to the hospital with a broken nose and a supreme wedgie. "Don't kick anyone's ass, Thals."

Thalia smiled softly at her brother but it left quickly when Jason's phone began to buzz again. She rolled her eyes. "Just answer the goddamned phone, Jason."

The blonde glanced up from the phone at his sister, his eyebrows furrowed. "Are you sure you want me to?" He asked.

"He's just going to keep calling you anyway." She sat back in her chair with her arms crossed over her chest. "Maybe Percy is short for persistent."

Jason let out a loud one syllable laugh, shaking his head at Thalia before he brought the phone up to his ear.

"Hey, you answered." Percy said, surprised.

Jason nodded before he remembered that the green-eyed boy couldn't see him. "Yeah, I did."

"Do you think you can stop by so we can talk?" Percy asked. "I don't want to do this over the phone."

At least he had the decency to want to talk to me in person, the blonde boy thought. Then he thought about how much raspier his boyfriend's voice was now.

"I have physics in twenty minutes. Maybe after then?"

"Yeah," Percy said slowly. "Yeah, see you then."

"Okay." Jason could hear the boy's steady breathing on the other side. "Bye."

"What did he say?" Thalia asked once he hung up.

"He wants to talk to me."

"Do you think Percy's going to break up with you?" She was now in 'protective older sister' mode.

"I don't know."

"Just in case, my offer to beat him up still stands."

"_Thalia_."

"What?" She questioned innocently, her azure eyes widened in mock surprise.

"I'll beat him up myself if I have to," Jason said, rolling his eyes.

Thalia threw her head back in laughter, like he had made some funny joke, which he was pretty sure he didn't. "I'd pay to see that."

The rest of the conversation was lost when one of Thalia's friends - Jason was pretty sure her name was Phoebe - walked up to their table and joined them.

* * *

><p>Percy looked terrible. As a matter of fact, that was an understatement.<p>

His eyes were surrounded with bags, like he hadn't slept for days, and his hair was even more unruly. It was obvious Percy hadn't bathed recently, which probably had something to do with being bedridden.

Needless to say, Percy looked like shit and Jason didn't miss the chance to tell him so either.

The blonde sat in the wooden chair he hadn't seen in about a week and glanced over at the green-eyed boy, letting out a soft chuckle. "You look like shit, Jackson."

Percy shrugged. "Being stuck in a bed for twenty four hours will do that to you, Grace."

"And maybe missing a couple of showers, too." Jason pointed out and Percy laughed, reaching up to ruffle his dark hair. His dimples were showing as he grinned and then the grin changed into him biting his lip.

"I missed you, Jason."

The blonde looked at his Converse clad feet, wanting to say something. He didn't want to mention anything about Annabeth because right now the two of them were good - _great even_ - and he didn't want to ruin this moment. So he settled with a quiet, "Oh."

"Yeah," Percy said and the blonde glanced up at him, green eyes meeting blue. "I know you think I'm a jerk and you probably hate me - "

"I don't hate you, Percy."

"Then why didn't you answer my first twenty seven calls?"

Jason pointedly looked away from him and sighed. He noticed that there was a stain on the white wall that looked suspiciously like blood and resembled something of a flying pegasus. Or a dog with horns.

Percy cleared his throat, drawing Jason's attention and the blonde desperately wanted to turn invisible.

"I-I think we should take a break." He blurted out and Percy's eyes widened because that was not the answer he was expecting.

"What? Why?"

"Because," Jason said, "you're obviously still in love with Annabeth."

Percy gasped. "No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are. Why else would you be holding her hand and about to kiss her?" Jason asked and Percy almost responded before he realized it was a rhetorical question and _rhetorical_ was a word he learned from Annabeth. _Crap_. "You still have feelings for her, and I totally understand that. She was your first love and if you want to have a future with her instead of me, that's fine, but if you're going to be with me, you need to be sure. I don't want to waste my time."

_Damn_, Percy thought.

He was being given an ultimatum between Jason and Annabeth, who were similar but couldn't be more different. He still did love Annabeth, but he didn't want to get his heart broken by her again. On the other hand, with Jason, he knew that the blonde would never hurt him like Annabeth did, but he wasn't sure they were to the point in their relationship that they could say they loved each other. He had rushed into things without telling Jason that he was still in love with someone else, hoping that the boy would be able to heal his broken heart.

And Percy knew he shouldn't feel this strongly about their relationship, but he didn't want it to end. He had actually started to think he was falling in love with Jason and then Annabeth arrived and screwed everything up. Right now, Percy felt like he wouldn't be able to tell the difference between up and down even if there were flashing signs in front of him.

"Maybe we should break up," Percy said, a hint of anger in his voice, "since this relationship was a waste of time."

"Percy - "

"I mean, that's fine with me if it's okay with you. What do you think?" He asked, green eyes flaring.

Jason nodded, now feeling a little infuriated that Percy was putting all the blame on him. "I do think that we should break up. It's only for the best." He said sickly sweet, standing up from his chair. Percy glared at him.

"Have a nice life, Jackson." Jason said as he walked out of the room and Percy let out a string of curses.

And just like that, their relationship had deteriorated to nothing but memories and broken dreams.

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, I know it took me awhile to update, but I was having something of writer's block. And tomorrow I start band camp - eek - which is for two weeks from eight in the morning to five in the afternoon, which means that I most likely won't have time to write as much as I do now.<strong>

**That, however, doesn't mean I won't be writing because I will. The updates will just come slower.**

**Also, the week after band camp ends, on Monday, is my birthday (yes, August 11th. If you mark your calendars, I'll feel extra special, hehe). And then a week after my birthday, school starts and then I'll be balancing band and school.**

**So yeah, guys, please don't think about killing me in between updates. I'm gonna be really really busy.**

**Just thought I'd give you guys a heads up. ;)**

**Thank you, lovelies!**

**- Hazel x**


	12. Chapter 12

Percy didn't see Jason the next day, or the day after that.

As a matter of fact, he didn't see the blonde until six months later, at the start of the new school year, when he was walking down one of the university's many hallways. He had been walking with Rachel to their world history class, his binder and notebooks held close to his chest as he conversated with the red-headed girl next to him when his eyes swept over the crowd in front of him and spotted a certain blonde-haired blue-eyed boy. Jason hadn't seen him, but the sight of the blonde boy made Percy's heart swell in a way that it shouldn't have.

He had a girlfriend now and her name was Annabeth.

(_Yes, a lot can happen in six months but we can always elaborate on that later. Right now, let's be concerned about Percy avoiding Jason_.)

"Crap," Percy interrupted Rachel's speech about some exotic animal heading into extinction.

"Whaa - "

Before she could say anything else, he grabbed her arm and pulled them into the nearest classroom.

And then Percy groaned upon noticing which classroom he was in and that it was full of students, wide eyes trained on them. Rachel adjusted the floral print headband that held her flaming curls back as the teacher, an older man with graying black hair and angry purple eyes, stood in front of them.

"Peter Johnston," Mr. D said, a scowl settling on his pudgy face as he stared the two down. He was wearing a leopard printed Hawaiian shirt with khaki cargos that made even Percy cringe, and he had no fashion taste whatsoever. "I hope you know that it's not polite to interrupt classes."

Rather than apologizing to the teacher that always seemed to come to school drunk, the green-eyed boy tensed and glared at the man. "My name is _Percy Jackson_," he said, gritting his teeth. The man had never gotten Percy's name right once ever since his freshman year when he was in Mr. D's class and that was three years ago. Certainly enough time to learn someone's name.

"Aaand we're just about to go," Rachel said to Mr. D, placing a comforting hand on Percy's arm and he instantly relaxed into her grip. "C'mon, Percy, it's not worth it."

Seeing that she was right, he backed down, following the red-headed girl out of the classroom. When they emerged back into the hallway, Percy found himself subconsciously searching the corridor with his eyes and he was half relieved he didn't see Jason.

What he did see, however, was a slightly irritated Rachel. Her hands were rested on the hips of her paint splattered skinny jeans, emerald eyes narrowed intently on Percy. He squirmed, nervously scratching the back of his neck.

"What was that about, Jackson?" Rachel questioned him.

"I just really missed Mr. D," Percy lied blatantly, looking over his shoulder back at the classroom they'd just came out of. "He has such a strong personality."

She raised a quizzical eyebrow, eyes still trained on him. "From what I remember, you hated that class and Mr. D, too. He gave you detention every day for no reason and he still doesn't know your name." Rachel said, settling Percy with a knowing and stern look. She didn't have to say anything for Percy to know that she wasn't oblivious. She knew about him seeing Jason.

"I don't see why you're avoiding him still." The red-headed girl sighed. "If the break-up was mutual, you should be able to talk to him and not duck behind a trash can whenever you see him."

"I never ducked behind a trashcan," Percy said. "Maybe the occasional pole."

Rachel lowered her eyebrows.

Percy ran a hand through his raven hair, not meeting her eyes. "It's complicated, okay?"

"It's really not."

"I haven't talked to him in six months."

"Is that his fault or yours?" Rachel asked and he let out a groan of irritation, knowing she was right.

But Percy couldn't help it. Sure, he wasn't in love with Jason, but he still loved the blonde boy, even if he was with Annabeth. He still grew short of breath at the sight of the boy and his stomach twisted in something that resembled guilt. He just wasn't able to talk to him.

Percy clutched his books closer to his chest, feeling open and vulnerable. "Can we just go to class please? Coach says that if I stress too much, my performance will go down."

"If that's your way of making me feel bad for bringing him up, then it worked." Rachel said, laughing and shoving the green-eyed boy as they once again started walking towards their next class, which was psychology. Percy only picked it because he knew he'd have it with Rachel, who was pretty much his personal tutor whenever Annabeth wasn't around. Though he knew Rachel was going to be reluctant to willingly give him test answers now partly because of Annabeth. The blonde was constantly going on about Percy learning to be successful on his own accord without cheating off of others.

He'd be lucky if he even passed the class with a D.

When they reached the classroom, Percy held the door open for Rachel, being the gentleman that he was, and followed her in. They made their way through the rows of desks and much to Percy's dismay, Rachel sat down in the dead center of the room. Percy rolled his eyes but sat in the desk next to her anyway.

"Really, Rach?" Percy said, rolling his eyes as he set his binders and books on the desktop. "Why couldn't we sit in the back?"

She scoffed. "With all of those troublemakers? No way."

He pouted, jutting his bottom lip out slightly. "But that's where we belong."

"Correction. That's where _you_ belong, Jackson." Rachel pointed the tip of her wooden pencil at him. "You're welcome to leave."

Percy glanced over his shoulder at the group of teenagers in the back of the classroom where the boys were throwing paper footballs at each other, the girls were taking selfies, and there was the occasional person taking their mid-day nap. He turned back around to face the red-headed girl beside him. "Nah, I'm good."

At that moment, the professor walked in, a tall black-haired woman in a pantsuit that walked with elegance that rivaled that of Audrey Hepburn herself. Her back was facing them as she unpacked the contents of her briefcase - several thick textbooks, notebooks, a laptop, et cetera - and then she turned around, her face all sharp angles and intense eyes reminding Percy of storm clouds. The woman's features changed as her eyes landed on the green-eyed boy and he choked, sinking low into his seat.

Rachel sent Percy a questioning look, reaching out to pat him on the back as he struggled to return his breathing back to normal.

"Are you okay?" She questioned, resisting the urge to laugh at her best friend's distress.

"That's Athena," Percy rasped, clearing his throat repeatedly. He was aware of the many wondering looks he was earning. "S-she's Annabeth's mom."

Rachel let out a loud cackle of laughter, throwing her head back. "Holy freakin' shit! She's totally gonna fail you."

"Shhh, she's looking at us."

"So? She already sees you."

"Shut up before she comes over here."

"Excuse me?"

"I said shut u - "

Their bickering was interrupted as the classroom door opened and revealed a young guy wearing a white button up and black vans as he walked in with a swagger Percy instantly recognized. His heart was hammering in his chest and he was sure his face was the darkest shade of red that ever existed.

Rachel leaned forward in her seat, her eyes narrowed as she studied the blonde boy standing awkwardly in the classroom doorway. "Wait, is that - ?"

Percy buried his face in his arms. "Ohmygod,yes."

And then Rachel laughed so hard that she snorted, then laughed harder because she snorted, and then snorted again because she was just laughing that hard.

Percy was ready to strangle her, but he remembered that he was in Athena Chase's (aka Annabeth's mother) classroom and he was really trying not to get kicked out of university during his last year there.

"Sorry, I'm late, Miss Chase," Jason said as he pulled a yellow pass out of his back pocket and handed it to Athena. "One of the teachers asked if I could help rearrange their classroom."

Percy rolled his eyes. Of course, Jason was still Mr. Perfect.

"You're excused." Athena said before turning to face her class, straightening up her navy blazer.

"For those of you who don't know who I am, I'm Athena Chase," she continued, her eyes settling on Percy's suddenly self-conscious form. He ran a hand through his hair. "I'm the science department chair and your psychology teacher, and I'm certainly qualified for both positions. I attended Harvard University, I am a published author, and I'm a perfectionist.

"With that said, I have set a couple of ground rules for this classroom. I don't tolerate cheating or plagarizing. My teacher's assistant, Jason Grace, will be my second set of eyes, so don't hesitate to think you won't get caught doing anything you're not supposed to be doing." Athena glanced at Percy so quickly, he almost didn't catch the steely look she sent him.

She continued going on about what was acceptable in her classroom and whatnot, and Percy found himself growing bored. Due to his ADHD, he found it hard to concentrate and started to pay attention to little details that no one else would've probably paid attention to. Like the way Jason had his arms crossed over his chest and would look down at the floor, a smirk toying with his lips whenever Athena said something that he found remotely funny. Or the way he would roll up the sleeves of his white button up enticingly.

Suddenly, Jason's azure eyes flickered over to Percy and the green-eyed boy tensed, heart fluttering ferociously.

And then the blonde winked at him. _Goddamned winked at him_.

What was Jason trying to do? Give him a heart attack? Anyways, wasn't Jason the one that broke up with him? So why was he freaking winking at him and being a flirt? Percy had a girlfriend, for crying out loud.

Percy broke eye contact and looked down at his notebook, resulting to avoiding Jason's gaze for the rest of the class. And even when the class ended, the green-eyed boy purposely ignored the blonde's call, swiftly pulling Rachel with him out of the classroom.

"You're still smitten with him," Rachel stated once they were outside of her dorm room. She leaned against the wall, twirling her keys around her pointer finger.

"So what if I am?" Percy asked.

Rachel looked at him over her shoulder as she unlocked the door. "Annabeth will kill you."

* * *

><p><strong>Ummm, I had half of this chapter written for like two weeks but I was being lazy and procrastinating but hey, it's up! (<em>Mostly because tomorrow is my birthday and school starts in a week ahhh<em>)**

**Again, I'm going to remind you guys that I'm going to be super busy. My school changed the schedule from four classes a semester to seven classes all year, so I'll have like two times more homework. Also, I'm really involved in band, so I'll be staying after school three times a week for that and with the addition of homework, it leaves virtually almost no time for me to write. So please bear with me.**

**So yeah, next chapter I'll go into more detail about Percy's relationship with Annabeth. Again, this was me being too lazy to write more, haha. Whatever, though.**

**Don't forget to review, follow, and favorite! Love you guys!**

**- Hazel**


	13. Chapter 13

Percy and Annabeth getting together really didn't happen overnight.

It happened sometime after she transferred back to Olympus University to keep a close eye on the green-eyed boy for Sally, his mother. Still, it took some time to let each other back into each other's lives and even then, it was still incredibly hard.

The pivotal point in their relationship didn't happen until four months (and nine days, but who's counting?) after Annabeth's return.

Percy had been struggling to get through his Calculus 2 homework, studying intently (one of those rare moments) and was trying to remember how to what the hell cosine was when there was a quick rap on the door. Percy groaned.

"Coming!" He shouted before brushing aside the pile of papers and getting up to get the door.

"Hey, wha - " Percy's breath hitched in his throat when he opened the door, coming face to face with Annabeth herself.

He'd might have given her a smart ass remark about showing up if her eyes weren't rimmed with tears, but he wasn't that much of a jerk. Instead of asking what was wrong, Percy simply gathered her into his arms, pulling her into the warmth of his dorm room.

Annabeth clutched onto him as if he was her life anchor, burying her face into his chest as she cried. He rested his chin on her head like he used to do back when they were dating. Everything felt so familiar like this, the way their bodies molded perfectly together and the way no one mattered but each other.

Eventually, Annabeth's tears reduced to small hiccups and Percy led her to the small futon, saying, "I'll be right back."

While he was gone, the blonde girl glanced around the small room, her eyes catching onto the little details that other people normally wouldn't have noticed due to her architect's eye. She noticed that Percy no longer had the pictures of them hung on his walls and he had twice as many trophies then he did the last time she'd seen his collection.

There was also things that had changed about his appearance. Percy's hair was now much longer than she was used to and just as dishevelled as ever, sticking up here and there in random directions. His sense of style had somewhat improved - he now wore clothes of the same color scheme rather than just throwing on whatever he could find.

Though the thing that changed the most about Percy was his face. His glowing green eyes lost some of the mirth that it used to carry and yet, his eyes were as mesmerizing as ever. The creases around his eyes were more prominent than before.

Percy just seemed so much more... _mature._

Annabeth really did feel like she missed out a lot in the last ten months...

And then Percy returned carrying a cup full of a hot and steaming liquid, handing it to her. She raised her eyebrows and he rolled his eyes.

"It's green tea," Percy said, watching as she took the small cup into her dainty hands.

"Thanks," Annabeth smiled softly. She sipped from the cup, revelling in the warmth it sent through her body as it went down her throat.

Percy grinned, noticing the blissful look on her face as she drank the tea. It made him feel all fuzzy inside.

When she finished drinking the tea, she set the cup on the coffee table.

"I can't believe you remember how much I love green tea." Annabeth laughed morbidly, turning her head to look at him.

He shrugged, smirking. "Boyfriend thing, I guess."

...

"So do you care to explain why you were crying?" Percy asked, wringing his fingers together. He was unsure of whether or not Annabeth would blow up at him or simply answer his question. He was hoping it was the latter.

Annabeth wiped her nose on the sleeve of her navy cardigan, sniffling softly. Then she said, "I saw Luke."

Percy instantly tensed. He clenched his fists, wondering which part of Luke's body he was going to decapitate first.

"What did he say?" Percy asked slowly.

Annabeth rested her hands on his knee in a comforting way. "It's fine, Percy..," she sat up a bit straighter, immediately changing the subject, "so I haven't seen you in a while. How are you?"

Percy got the sense that she was purposefully trying to avoid the subject of Luke, but he let it slide, instead answering the question Annabeth had asked him.

Over the course of the next few hours, they simply talked, he laughed and everything he'd ever hated about her was forgotten in an instant. They gravitated towards each other, both figuratively and literally. Percy ended up laying on the couch with Annabeth on top of him, his arms wrapped around her small frame.

Annabeth laughed at something Percy said, her grey eyes crinkling at the corners and then her grey eyes met emerald ones that were already looking at her. They found themselves looking into each other's eyes, like old times, and then they were leaning closer, eyes closing.

And when their lips met, it was as if the stars were aligning once again.

* * *

><p><strong>Omg guys!<strong> **I'm sorry that this chapter is** **utter crap (tbh, I knew what Iwanted it to be about but I didn't know how to write it...) and** **I'm sorry that I took so long to update.I've just realky had a lot on my plate what with band and running for class president and I'm honest to God trying to update as fast and efficiently as I can. **

**Let's** **hope that I can keep to the promise of two updates a month? Haha.**

**Thanks** **for those of you that stuck around.I love you guys!**

- **Hazel** **x**


	14. Chapter 14

When Percy walked into Athena's classroom a couple of weeks later, the older woman announced that their grades for the chapter two test were now available. And as Jason came around to pass out the results, Rachel leaned close to the green-eyed boy and asked, "How well do you think you did?"

Percy bit his lip.

He didn't know how to answer that question honestly. Rachel was a lot better than him when it came to anything that dealt with academics and he didn't want to seem stupid (which, half of the time he did). The class was just really hard - probably the hardest class he'd taken at Olympus so far.

"If I got a D on the chapter one test, and chapter two is exponentially harder, I think I got at least an - eh, thirty five?" Percy guessed, moving his hand in a so-so motion.

"Out of fifty?" The red-head asked hopefully.

He gave her a look. "Pssh, _I wish_."

"Oh." Rachel said as Jason placed her test packet on her desk. She flipped it over to see an 80% B neatly scribbled in red ink at the top of the paper. She fist bumped the air, "Yessss!"

Jason came around to where Percy was sitting and laid his test face down on the desk. Percy held his breath as he flipped it over, praying to whatever gods existed that he'd miraculously gotten a good grade. (He wasn't being picky - he'd be happy with the bare minimum of a C minus.)

But, what he was not expecting to see was a big fat F written in the top left corner, mocking him in Athena's perfect teacher handwriting.

Percy ran a hand through his hair, thinking about how disappointed his mother would be if she discovered his grades. Lucky, she lived on the other side of the country which made it easier for Percy to lie to her over the phone. And _Annabeth_? She already made it clear to Percy that she wanted to be with someone successful and who graduated college. Having a bad grade in this class could totally mess him and their relationship up.

Rachel tapped the green-eyed boy on his shoulder, breaking him out of his thoughts. She asked, "What did you get?"

Percy held up his paper. Rachel made a face.

"Maybe you can get Annabeth to tutor you?" She offered, shrugging.

The green-eyed boy scrunched up his nose, thinking back to the times when Annabeth had tried to help him with his homework. "Have you heard her try to explain something? It's like she's talking in Greek." He said and Rachel laughed. "Really," he insisted.

"Then who's going to tutor you?" Rachel asked, "because you obviously need some help."

"I'll do it."

Both Percy and Rachel looked up with confused expressions, wondering who would offer to help him when he was so far beyond helpless. They both (honestly) weren't surprised to see that it was Jason Grace who had offered, arms crossed smugly over his chest and a smirk on his face.

"Really?" the red-haired girl asked, quirking an eyebrow. "You do know that Percy's pretty much past the point of no return?"

Jason laughed. "I think everyone knows he is, Rachel."

"You guys do know that I'm still here, right?" Percy commented, waving a hand between them. They continued to talk about him as if he wasn't there.

"You should probably give him the details of meeting up - y'know, time, day, place kinda thing? He's crap at making plans," Rachel told the blonde, who nodded.

"Hey!" Percy said, feeling slightly offended at the girl's words. "I'm good at making plans."

Rachel turned to give Percy a pointed look, "Says the guy who told me the wrong day to go see Guardians of the Galaxy."

"Maybe you just weren't listening." Percy mumbled, but she didn't hear him, instead talking to the blonde again. Percy sighed and sunk down into the seat of his desk, resting the back of his head against the cool chair.

He closed his eyes and for the rest of the class, he was forced to listen to Rachel and Jason plan out their stupid study session.

* * *

><p>It was two days later now and Percy was pacing his dorm room floor, mentally debating whether or not he should meet Jason at the library earlier than the time Rachel told him. He knew Jason was very punctual - he probably had his day planned out right to the time that he went to the bathroom. (Okay, maybe not. That was more Annabeth than Jason.)<p>

The green-eyed boy ran a hand through his hair, trying to make it lay across his forehead the way he wanted it to. Glancing at his reflection in the mirror, Percy grunted. He eventually gave up before straightening the collar of his polo once more and then heading out the door.

Percy reached the library in four minutes, purposely trying to drag out his arrival but the giant two-story building was only fifty steps away from his dorm building. Literally.

And of course, Mr. Perfect was already there waiting for him with an opened textbook, papers, and a dangerously sharp wooden pencil. When the blonde caught sight of Percy, his face immediately went from a passive look to slight impression.

"Wow, you're thirty minutes late, Percy," said Jason, smirking and pointing his pencil at Percy like he would with a sword.

Percy raised his eyebrows. "Rachel told me 6:00." He said, his face conforming to the confused look it normally held.

"I told her 6:30," Jason laughed and then they were both staring at each other awkwardly. "Maybe we should get started." The blonde gestured towards the empty seat next to him.

"Uh, yeah, totally," Percy mumbled. He scratched the back of his neck as he sat in the chair next to the blonde.

Jason pulled out some of his old notes and started to explain some things to Percy. It was all a little bit too much to grasp but the green-eyed boy managed to catch onto the main gist of things like charge and Coulomb's law. However, the rest of electrostatic was ridiculously fuzzy to him.

"I don't understand," Percy frowned, pouting his bottom lip as he stared down at his paper.

"What do you not understand?" asked Jason.

"_Everything_," Percy groaned, shoving his face into his hands.

Jason then started to explain all that they'd gone over for the fifth time (God bless his soul). And honestly, Percy did try to stay focused on what the blonde was saying, but he just couldn't.

He really would like to blame his short attention span on his ADHD when in reality, it had maybe 10% to do with him not being able to focus.

The other 90%? ... was Jason.

Because _daaaaaamn_.

You _do_ _not_ know how hard it is to stay focused when you have such blue eyes sneaking glances at you out of the corner of his eye and the sexy lip bites whenever Jason was deep in thought.

And maybe Percy didn't really mind going to tutoring just this once.

* * *

><p>"Dude!" Percy exclaimed once his next test was passed back to him. He waved the papers in front of Rachel's face, grinning like the Cheshire cat. "I got a B!"<p>

He felt eyes watching him and looked up to see Jason sitting next to Athena's desk, sending a giant smile and a thumbs up to Percy in the middle of his grading papers.

Percy made a mental note to later personally thank Jason for helping him get what was possibly the best grade ever.

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, guys. Don't kill me, please. I already know what you're thinking, "Over a month without an update?"<strong>

**Yes, but I have an excuse! I literally have something everyday after school: Monday - steering committee, Tuesday - pre calc tutoring & robotics, Wednesday - band practice, Thursday - band practice, and Fridays are football games. And then the weekends are specifically reserved for homework and Once Upon A Time.**

**So, yeah, I'm sorry. Every time I read a new review, I literally cringed knowing this chapter wasn't ready and it's still not my best work but I thought I should at least put something up, right? Haha.**

**Anywho, you guys should still keep favoriting and reviewing and being awesome people because all of you are so freaking amazing! Like really, I didn't expect to have so many people read this story. You guys literally make my day whenever you leave a review saying how I'm a great writer and that you love this story.**

**So thank you!**

**Also, I'll try to update more.**

**Stay beautiful!**

**- Hazel x**


	15. Chapter 15

The next few days for Percy went without any incidents.

(Unless you count the moments of awkward butt slaps from strangers and the occasional '_oh-crap-I-have-two-minutes-to-get-to-class_' mad dash.)

But other than that, life was reasonably ordinary, which rarely happened when your name was Percy Jackson. Honestly, Percy was used to being in trouble or being in some extremely embarrassing situation.

He literally felt like he was in the eye of the storm. Like suddenly, torrential rain was going to start pouring out of the ceiling and he was going to be blown away by one hundred miles per hour winds.

And that scared the shit out of him.

It made his heart beat ten times faster at the thought of some huge problem arising out of absolutely nowhere. He didn't know when it was going to happen, but he knew it was coming.

It was inevitable.

* * *

><p>Percy yawned, stretching his arms as he did so. Annabeth tried not to notice the fact that his shirt rode up and she saw a peek of his tanned abs. Percy pretended not to see the pink tint that colored her cheeks.<p>

"What do you want to watch?" The green-eyed boy asked, grabbing his laptop and returning to the bed. He pulled up Netflix and began to scroll through the selection of movies.

Annabeth leaned forward to see what movies were available, biting her lip. "Silver Linings Playbook?" She offered and looked up at Percy for confirmation.

Groaning, he shook his head vigorously. "No way."

The blonde raised an eyebrow, a smirk playing at the corner of her lips. "Are you afraid that you're going to cry?"

Percy rolled his eyes. "I don't do chick flicks. Even ones with Jennifer Lawrence."

"Okay, fine, let's watch the Avengers."

Percy cheered and wrapped his arms tightly around the blonde girl, peppering her face with light kisses.

"That was literally the fastest we've ever agreed on a movie." He said, settling down beside Annabeth on the bed.

"Thanks to me! You're the absolute worst at picking a movie that we'll both like."

"That is not true. You pretty much only like documentaries about Ancient Greece and Rome."

"Shut up, Percy." Annabeth said, shoving the green-eyed boy.

He laughed. "Oh, it's on."

He climbed on top of the blonde girl, sitting on her with his knees flush to her hips. They wrestled and Percy finally managed to pin her hands above her head.

He smirked. "Do you surrender, Chase?"

"Never."

Percy barely had a chance to process what she said before she lifted her head to press her lips against his, a quick kiss easily turning into making out. And then, the next thing he knew, Annabeth pulled away and used his moment of shock to shove him off herself and reverse positions.

"Hey," Percy pouted, "I was enjoying that k -_ mmph_."

Now they were back to kissing and Percy found himself getting a little bit aroused.

Then, at that_ oh-so-perfect_ moment, Percy's phone rang, blaring out _Cool Kids_ by Echosmith (thanks to Rachel). He patted his pockets before digging out his phone, looking at the caller ID.

Percy groaned.

"Who is it?" Annabeth asked, sitting up in the bed and tossing the green-eyed boy a wary look.

Percy held up his pointer finger to his lips, sliding off of the bed so he could pace the room while he talked. (He had to do something while he was on the phone - his ADHD made it impossible to not multitask.)

"Hey," he said. "What's up?"

...

"Oh, shit. I totally forgot."

...

He looked back at Annabeth. "Well, I'm kind of in the middle of something."

...

"Yeah, she's here." Percy rolled his eyes and sent Annabeth a look of irritation that made the blonde smirk.

"Ooookay," the green-eyed boy said, "be there in five!" He clicked the red end button on his phone's screen and glanced at the blonde sitting on his bed staring at him with a quirked eyebrow.

"What?" Percy's voice raised an octave as he squealed when Annabeth threw one of his pillows at him.

"Who was that and what do they want? Did you forget your pants in Rachel's room?"

Percy's cheek turned the brightest of crimson. He bent down to find a clean hoodie to wear over his white t-shirt because yeah, he definitely wasn't blushing. "No, I just forgot about my study date with Jason. Y'know kinda gotta pass your mom's class to get boyfriend points, right?"

He picked up a grey jacket and sniffed it, wrinkling his nose once his slow brain registered the repulsive smell that the jacket reeked. Percy then threw it in the hump of dirty clothes that were piled in the corner of his dorm. (Yes, he was aware that once your pile of dirty clothes reached your waist, that it was probably a good sign that you needed to do your laundry.)

"Pretty much," the blonde agreed, tossing him a maroon cardigan that was laying on his night stand. Percy smelled it and sighed happily -finally something that actually smelled like flower blossom. (Hey, for the record, he usually forgot to buy fabric softener and ended up borrowing from Annabeth.)

Percy gave Annabeth a goodbye kiss before promising to return ASAP to continue where they left off.

As stepped through the doorway, he heard Annabeth say, "Wait, hold on, study date?"

And then Percy smirked as he shut the door.

* * *

><p>Percy reached the library pretty quickly, shoving open the large marble doors. His eyes scanned over the room for a blond head and then he started walking over to him but then he realized - <em>wait<em>. Why were there _two_ blonds?

He recognized one as Jason due to his broad shoulders and preppy style. The other was more lean but just as muscular and just a little bit shorter than Jason. Percy began to approach them as the other blond gathered his stuff and left out of the back doors of the library, which sort of irritated Percy because he wanted to see who this guy was. He strained his neck to look for any telltale sign of the boy's identity but failed. Guess he'd just have to ask Jason.

The green-eyed boy approached Jason just as he bent over to grab a fallen book from the carpeted floor.

"Nice ass," Percy smirked, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned against one of the wooden bookshelves.

Jason nearly had a seizure at Percy's sudden appearance, standing up and straightening out his plaid button up. (Like Percy said, _preppy_.)

"Dude," Jason rolled his eyes, "you could've said hi or something first. Though, thanks for the compliment, I guess?"

"You're always welcome," Percy winked. He took a seat at one the tables and looked expectantly at the blond, "So what's the lesson for today, Mr. Grace?"

"I'm sorry - what?" Jason said, looking up from his phone, obviously distracted.

The green-eyed boy narrowed his eyes, his playful side instantaneously coming out. "Who is that you're texting?"

The blond blushed profusely. "It's - uh - no one."

Percy raised an eyebrow.

Jason looked away.

"Is it that guy who was talking to you earlier?"

If it was possible, the blond blushed harder. "Maybe," he said.

Percy leaned forward towards Jason, "What's his name?"

...

"Luke."

And cue all hell breaking loose.

Or more accurately, Percy flipping shit.

"Wait, _what_? Luke _Castellan_?"

"Um, yeah?" Jason said unsurely, gauging the green-eyed boy's reaction.

Percy tried to take calming breaths - in for one, out for four, repeat -but he just couldn't hide his ... shock? Anger? Honestly, he didn't even know what he was feeling but he felt like this was the moment that he'd been so apprehensive about. This was the looming inevitable problem.

"Oh my god. OH MY GOD."

"Shh. It's a _library_, Percy."

"I can't believe you're dating - "

" - _talking_," Jason quickly corrected.

"I can't believe you're talking to Luke Castellan!"

"And why's that?" Jason asked, challenging the green-eyed boy.

Percy waved his hands around in a dramatic gesture. "He's like way beyond bad news, Jase. Annabeth first broke up with me for him and then he left her for someone else. Luke has serious commitment issues and, and - "

"You don't want me to get hurt." The blond finished for him.

"I never said that." Percy deadpanned.

"But you implied it."

Percy rolled his eyes. "Whatever. I'm just saying that you should try to distance yourself before you get hurt. That's all. With that said, good night, Jason." He stood up and the younger boy quickly followed.

"Wait, what about studying?" Jason quickly asked. "Don't you need to get a good grade on this test?"

"Frankly, yes, but right now, I can not be in the same room with you without having a heart attack or hitting you on the head with the thickest and biggest book I can find. So as Annabeth often advises me to do, I am removing myself from the situation." Percy said and nearly high-fived himself for sounding so smart. He walked out of the library with the most swagger he could muster before leaving the library, flipping Jason the peace sign over his shoulder.

As soon as Percy was outside of the library, his facade collapsed as he leaned against the cold marble wall of the building, breathing heavily.

He couldn't believe Jason was "talking" to Luke. To be honest, Percy didn't even _know_ Luke was into guys - though, the blond could probably say the same about him since the whole Jason thing last year. Percy couldn't even fathom the idea of them being together. It was like mixing water with orange juice (a bad combination, by the way).

However, it made sense. They were the two best looking guys on the football team. (But Jason wore the uniform better. Have you seen his ass in those tight pants? Lord.) But Percy would forever deny the thought of them being together.

Did he still care about Jason?

Yes.

Did he still love him?

Not in that way.

Did he still want to shove him against the wall and ravage his mouth and lick the scar above his lip?

No. _Definitely_ no.

Right?

Percy groaned, conflicted. He ran his hand through his hair, ruffling his loose curls.

He had a girlfriend, for crying out loud. He couldn't have these thoughts about Jason, or anyone in general.

He needed someone to talk to.

_Now_.

* * *

><p><strong>Yes, I am aware that I haven't posted a chapter in forever. Sorry sorry sorry. I'm not even going to lie and say that I'm gonna try to post two times a month because obviously I haven't kept my word (oops).<strong>

**But anyways, I suddenly got a burst of inspiration while washing dishes and listening to Taylor Swift's new album. So thank her (not me) for an update. Because it is Thanksgiving season, right? Haha.**

_**(By the way, Taylor's album is life. Go download it right now. You won't regret it.)**_

**_(Also it's become apparent that I'm loving parentheses right now.)_**

**So yeah, thanks for reading & reviewing and basically being awesome. I'll try to post again asap because I really like where this story is going. :)**

**I love you, you beautiful person you!**

**- Hazel x**


	16. Chapter 16

After Percy weighed out his options of whom he could see about his inconvenient Jason dilemma, the only two people he could honestly see himself talking to about the problem was Thalia or Rachel. Annabeth was a definite no for obvious reasons, he didn't feel comfortable talking to Piper about it, and Leo was too protective of Jason for Percy to even bring the topic of them up.

And now the green-eyed boy was standing outside of Thalia's dorm room, biting his lower lip and his fist poised to knock on the wooden door.

But then he paused.

Something was stopping him - he didn't know if it was the right thing to talk to Thalia, or anyone, about Jason. He knew they'd all say that it was wrong for having feelings for the blond while he was dating Annabeth. They'd either side with Annabeth or Jason and he didn't want to cause a rift between his group of friends. Percy could feel a tight ball forming in his stomach and instead of knocking, he backed away from the door.

Thoughts floated around his head one after the other, a jet stream of what if's and why's. Percy groaned and carded his fingers through his disheveled curls, pulling frustratedly at the roots. He walked and walked, letting his feet take him wherever they wanted.

Soon, Percy found himself at the pool, staring down at a reflection of himself. He had matured a lot in the past year, both mentally and physically. He'd lost nearly all of the baby fat in his face and his green eyes seemed to glow darker than before.

Without thinking about it, Percy dove gracefully into the pool. He was fully clothed and yet, he didn't care. Being in water was his element and swimming made him forget about his problems. It helped even back when Annabeth had first left him.

He relished the way the water clung against his skin as he executed perfect breaststrokes and dove underneath the water to push against the wall with the balls of his feet so he could give himself more momentum as he swam to the other side of the pool. The time seemed to fly by and about a hour later, Percy pulled himself out of the water.

He was dripping wet from head to toe, water droplets clinging to him everywhere. Luckily, he always kept a change of clothes in his locker for emergencies. Percy peeled off his shirt on the way to the locker room, exposing his tanned abdomen and the evident six pack from being such a dedicated athlete.

Percy opened the door to the locker room and walked up to his locker, opening it. He grabbed his clothes and headed over to the showers. He cleaned himself quickly and got dressed, going back to where the lockers where.

Percy paused mid-step as if his feet were glued to the ground when he saw Jason being pinned against the locker by the notorious Luke Castellan. Jason's eyes were closed as Luke sucked at the flesh just above his collar bones, one of Jason's sweet spots that Percy had discovered during a heated make out session.

Percy didn't know if he wanted to run or punch Luke square in the jaw. Yeah, it wasn't like he and Jason were dating but he still felt protective over him, especially when it came to Luke.

Before the green-eyed boy had a chance to bail and run out of the locker room, Jason's eyes opened and zeroed in on him. The blond let out a half squeak, half moan, and Luke pulled away, but didn't turn to see what had caught Jason's attention over his shoulder.

"What's wrong, baby?" Luke asked, softly pecking the blond's lips.

Jason looked away from Percy as he lied, "You were hurting me."

The green-eyed boy didn't stick around long enough to hear the rest of the conversation. He left through the back doors of the locker room, which meant he'd have to take the long way back to his dorm room.

Stuck to his door was a Post-It note and scrawled onto the yellow paper in Annabeth's handwriting was, _"It was getting late so I headed home. Hope you had a great time with Jason. Love you!"_ She had even put a little heart next to the word you.

Percy felt so guilty. Annabeth had no idea that he thought of Jason as more than friends and the fact that she was so oblivious made him feel like he deserved the award for the worst boyfriend in the world.

Because the whole night, he couldn't get the image of Jason enjoying Luke's lips and the sound of his moans. It was as if the whole thing was on replay in Percy's mind.

And if Percy wasn't confused before, he definitely was now.

* * *

><p>Jason was sitting at his lunch table with his normal group of friends - Leo, Nico, Piper, and Thalia. He smiled as he listened to Leo retell one of his failed dates with Nico.<p>

"And after I made the a freakin' four course meal, he told me, and I quote, that it sucked." Leo finished, crossing his arms over his chest, a pout forming on his lips.

"You burned the food and nearly caught the entire kitchen on fire!" Nico said, shaking his head at his curly-haired boyfriend. "You're lucky you didn't kill yourself."

The whole table except Leo chuckled and then their laughter faded into silence.

"Hey, why doesn't Percy sit with us anymore? He hasn't been here for the past week." Piper announced, her kaleidoscope eyes scanning the cafeteria for the familiar mop of black hair.

She hadn't been the only to notice the absence of the green-eyed boy either. Thalia had noticed Percy had been MIA but she figured he'd probably be with his girlfriend during their lunch. Leo missed having someone actually laugh at his bad jokes and Nico didn't have someone else to occupy Leo's attention and horrible humor.

All eyes were on Jason as everyone at the table waited for an answer.

He held up his hands, raising his eyebrows. "Why are you all looking at me? I'm not Percy's keeper."

"Yeah, you pretty much are," Thalia commented.

Leo pointed his index finger at the black-haired girl. "She's right. Even if you're dating Luke Castle-land, you're still Jackson's keeper."

"I'm not dating Luke."

(Jason was _totally not_ trying to change the topic off of Percy.)

Cue the sarcastic glances.

Thalia rolled her eyes, saying, "Okay, now you're just disagreeing with everyone. You've pretty much got Luke's dick up your ass all the time." Piper snickered and Leo let out a loud roar of laughter. Nico tried not to laugh by taking a bite of his pepperoni pizza.

Jason blushed, burying his face in his hands. "Can we not talk about this?" He could feel the heat traveling up his neck all the way to the tip of his ears.

"Okay, lover boy," Leo said and then the subject was thankfully changed to the advanced algebra homework that was due tomorrow.

Soon, everyone had left and it was only Jason and Piper that remained.

She sat across from the blond, looking as beautiful as ever, though you could tell she was trying to tone down her beauty. She wasn't wearing any makeup and yet, she was a hundred times prettier than most of the girls in the cafeteria. Her brown hair was gathered into a messy ponytail and she wore a pair of paint-splattered jeans and one of her dad's sweatshirts that was so worn out, you could barely read the letters on the front.

She quirked a suspicious eyebrow at Jason, making him fidget with the straw of his drink.

"What?" He said, glancing up at her.

"What's up with you and Percy?" Jason opened his mouth to answer and Piper held up a hand, stopping him from speaking. "And don't lie."

He sighed and stared at the gray table top. "We're going through a rough patch, I guess. He doesn't like me talking to Luke."

"And why's that?"

"I don't know," he shrugged, "I think it has to do with Annabeth cheating on him with Luke. He's just being overdramatic."

"Well, if I were Percy , I wouldn't want you to date Luke either. I wouldn't want you to get hurt."

"Why would Percy care? He made it evident he cared more about his relationship with Annabeth than us." Jason could feel his anger rising. He just didn't want to talk about anything Percy related right now. The green-eyed boy was stupid and ignorant.

"I think you're still in love with him." Piper said.

"I'm really not."

She raised an eyebrow.

Jason ran a hand through his hair and groaned.

Because though he'd never admit it, deep down inside, he really was still in love with Percy Jackson. But it didn't matter now that he had Annabeth.

* * *

><p><strong>Merry Christmas guys! I decided to put together a new chapter to help you celebrate the holidays, haha.<strong>

**Hope you enjoyed and don't forget to review, follow and favorite!**

**LOVE YOU GUYS,**

**Hazel x**


	17. Chapter 17

For the next couple of days, Percy avoided Jason like the plague. Though, it was hard because he did see him every time he had Athena's class.

And then Jason would walk into the classroom wearing a smirk, a purple t-shirt that looked great against his tan skin and tight black skinny jeans that made it hard for Percy to stay focused. Every now and then, Rachel had to nudge him so he could he stop daydreaming about Jason and his - wait, isn't this supposed to be PG-13? So yeah, we can skip Percy's daydreams (and Jason's too).

Percy still had to go to tutoring, too. (Not that he needed to.) He'd have to endure hours of Jason biting the end of his pencil and platonic touches.

When he did need to talk to the blond, the green-eyed boy kept it terse. He honestly didn't even know why he was giving Jason the cold shoulder. Okay, Percy did know but he just didn't want to admit it.

"So do you understand this?" Jason asked, eyebrows slightly raised. Percy glanced down at the loose-leaf paper that had his chicken scratch handwriting and then Jason's freakin' manuscript on it.

"I guess."

Jason narrowed his eyes at Percy. "Really?"

"_What_?"

"Why have you been so snappy lately?" Jason replied. "I'm not stupid - you've been avoiding me. And when you do talk to me, it's short and one worded."

"Because."

Was Percy being a little childish? Yes, but Jason deserved it.

"Is this about Luke?" Jason questioned. Percy's face gave it away when his jaw clenched. "It is!"

"I told you not to date to him. He's bad news and - "

"We're not dating." Jason just really felt the need to clarify that.

Percy rolled his eyes. "Talking or whatever. Plus the thing in the locker room?"

Jason's face turned cherry red. "Um. No feelings involved."

The whole situation was a little awkward so Percy just replied with, "Okay, good."

And then they were back to studying.

* * *

><p>"This party sucks," Percy declared, swishing around the liquid in his cup. It looked suspiciously dark but he'd need a good amount of alcohol to make it through this party tonight.<p>

One of the guys on the water polo team had invited him and that should've been a telltale sign that the party was going to be a huge flop. (Because, c'mon, there wasn't even a beer pong table. You can't have a legit college house party without a beer pong table.) Luckily, Percy had managed to convince Annabeth to tag along so he had someone to keep him from drinking so much that he'd have a killer hangover tomorrow.

"Percy," Annabeth said, "that's your third cup. You need to slow down."

He rolled his eyes and grabbed Annabeth's hand, pulling her towards the dance floor. "C'mon, let's go dance."

Percy held her close with his hands on her hips as their bodies swayed to the upbeat Beyoncé song. Annabeth's body pressed back against his, her head tilted forward against his chest.

He looked up and saw Jason watching him from across the room. The blond was talking to a girl with a cup in one hand and every few seconds, he'd glance at Percy with his brows furrowed and his lips in a thin line.

Well, if Jason was watching, then Percy would give him a show.

He turned Annabeth around so his front was pressed against her backside. He started to get into it and soon, she was too, grinding her hips back against him. He smirked and looked up to see that Jason was absolutely furious; he even had his jaw clenched. The blond left the girl he was talking to, heading towards where Luke chatting with his douche-bag football friends talking about whatever douche-bag football people talked about. Then Jason was pulling Luke to the dance floor.

If Percy thought his dancing was dirty and provocative, Jason's was ten times worse. He'd might as well pull his pants down and be having sex with Luke right there. And to make matters worse, the blond was purposely trying to look inhumanely sexy, biting his lip, running his hand through his hair, and keeping eye contact with Percy as he danced.

Finally, the green-eyed boy couldn't stand it anymore.

He walked over to Jason, attempting to look calm as he did so. Without saying a word, he grabbed the blond's wrist and tugged him down a hallway, pulling them into a random closet.

"You don't get to dance like that with Luke." Percy said, his tone hard.

"Why not? You get to dance with Annabeth."

Percy rolled his eyes. "That's different."

"And how's that?"

"She's my girlfriend."

Jason crossed his arms over his chest. "It's the same thing, Jackson."

Percy stepped towards Jason in a moment of boldness. "Are you jealous, Grace?"

The blond scoffed. "No."

Now the green-eyed boy was so close to Jason their noses were millimeters apart. "Do you wish it was you that I was dancing with?"

Jason's eyes flickered down to Percy's lips and then back to his eyes. He licked his lips sexily. "Maybe."

They stood there, wanting to do more but neither one making the first move. They knew that once they did, there would be no turning back.

"Oh my god, Jason, just kiss me already." Percy whined because he's a teenage boy and he's always horny. He wrapped a hand around the blond's neck and pulled their heads together.

As soon as their lips met, it was like starting back where they left off and just as magical as the first time they'd kissed. Jason ran a hand through Percy's hair, making the green-eyed boy moan in pleasure as he gently scraped his fingers against his scalp. The blond pulled away from the kiss, out of breath and panting.

"We shouldn't be doing this." He breathed, his eyes scanning over Percy's blissful face. Jason was thinking rationally and with his brain. But his heart was telling him to fuck it all and throw what little shred of dignity he had for himself out of the window.

"I know," Percy moaned as he pulled his arm tighter around Jason, causing their bodies to mold against each other and make both of them aware of how turned on they were. "But it's not my fault that you make me this way, Grace. If I could, I would take you right here in this closet and make you moan until you lose your voice."

Was it just Jason or was it getting hotter in here by the second?

Jason groaned and grinded his hips up against Percy's. "So why don't you then?"

In an instant, the green-eyed boy had Jason pressed against the wall, his breath fanning across the blond's face. Now he had the upper hand. As he held Jason's hands above his head, he took that moment to attach his lips to Jason's neck. When his mouth met that certain spot, the blond let out a shaky whimper and Percy had to wedge his knee in between Jason's legs so the blond didn't fall.

"Did Luke find this spot?" Percy asked suddenly. The blond was so taken aback, but he managed to moan, "Yes."

"Did he kiss this spot like this?" The green-eyed boy questioned, running his tongue over the exposed flesh just below Jason's collarbone.

"No."

He pulled Jason's shirt over his head and the moment it was removed, his lips found another place that made the blond moan even louder. "What about this one? Did he find this one?"

Jason opened his eyes and found Percy's green eyes staring back at him, dark and full of jealousy. He didn't understand why he was being so protective now when only yesterday, he acted as if he didn't care if Jason jumped off the Empire State Building.

"No," he groaned, rotating his hips against Percy's leg to try and get some relief. The moment was quickly becoming too much for him and before he was almost over the edge, Percy removed his leg and kissed him passionately.

"I want more, Perce. I need more," Jason moaned against his lips, never feeling so weak and out of control as he did now. He didn't know if he wanted to touch Percy or have the green-eyed boy touch him.

Luckily, he didn't have to make a decision because then Jason's pants were being unbuckled and a hand was now holding him. He arched his back at Percy's touch, his mind going into overdrive. He didn't care that Percy was an amateur and his movements were sloppy. It was just enough to have Jason seeing stars.

"Oh my god," he moaned, eyes rolling back into his head. He probably would've kept moaning even louder if Percy hadn't captured his lips in a kiss. Finally, he came and the green-eyed boy's hand pulled away.

And then suddenly Jason had Percy trapped against the wall and the roles were reversed. The blond smirked, "Now it's your turn, Jackson."

They kissed, tongues fighting for dominance. Jason snaked his hands underneath Percy's shirt, feeling his defined stomach.

"Don't you think it's unfair that I have my shirt off and you don't?" Jason whispered in his ear, removing Percy's shirt and exposing his tanned swimmer' body. "I want to feel your skin against mine." He pressed their bodies together. "I want to make you come harder than Annabeth ever has made you." Percy moaned when Jason palmed him through the material of his jeans. "I want to leave marks and bruises on you in only places you and I know about, so you're reminded that I did this to you." He said, pressing his hand against the skin on Percy's hips so hard that the green-eyed boy knew it'd be black and blue by the morning.

Percy closed his eyes, breathing fast and heavy. He could feel sparks flying across his skin wherever Jason touched him and he couldn't help but grind his hips up against Jason's.

"What do you want?" Jason asked him, his voice thick with the power and control of a leader.

Percy let out a moan. Jason tightened his grip on his side.

"_What do you want_?" The blond repeated.

Percy took a breath. "I want you, Jason. Y-You're driving me insane. I can't even think straight right now."

"Well, prepare to have your mind blown." Jason smirked and Percy snickered at the innuendo, but his smile didn't last long.

Because just then the blond dropped down to his knees, unzipped his jeans, and nearly deep-throated him in one go. The whole time Jason never broke eye contact with him. And damn, if it wasn't the sexiest thing he'd ever seen he'd be lying.

Percy's hands were in Jason's hair and he had to resist the urge to shove his head forward because he wanted more, more, more. Soon, he was over the edge, moaning expletives as he did.

"Jason, your mouth is literally the best thing since blue M&M's." Percy said.

Jason grinned, stretching the scar above his lip in a way that made Percy want to stay in this closet forever just so he could have Jason for as long as he wanted. "Please don't ever say that again. I want to see M&M's without thinking about blowjobs."

Percy laughed and was about to go in for another kiss but then there was a loud bang on the door. They instantly flew apart, rushing to find their respective shirts and look presentable.

Percy cursed as he pulled his shirt over his head. "Shit, that was close."

"I know," Jason said. "Do you think Annabeth's still here?"

"Yeah." Percy frowned, feeling guilty about what he'd just done. He cheated on Annabeth, something that he never swore he do. And to make it worse, it was with a guy. She'd be heartbroken.

Didn't she deserve it, though? She was the one who cheated on him. Now she'd know how he felt.

...but it still made him feel like the worst boyfriend ever.

Jason straightened up, reaching to rest his hand on the green-eyed boy's shoulder. "You don't have to keep doing this if you don't want to, Percy. I don't mind if you want to stop this before we get too caught up in our emotions and do something we regret."

Percy let out a harsh laugh, not aimed at Jason but at the crappy situation. "It's already too late, Jay. I really, really like you and I do regret what we just did, but not because of you. If it weren't for Annabeth, I wouldn't have any regrets."

Jason nodded. "Yeah. Um, do you want me to go out first or ..?" He trailed off, gesturing to the door.

"Yeah, I'll stay a couple of minutes to get myself together before I have to - y'know - talk to her."

"Oh, okay." Jason said, reaching for the door handle. He pulled open the door, saying one last bye before he left. As he did, Percy smacked his ass and smiled when Jason looked surprised.

Then he was left by himself. He thought about Annabeth and Jason and who gave the better blowjob. To be honest, it was Jason, but Annabeth didn't need to know that. She was still amazing at whatever she did.

Soon, it was time for him to leave the closet. He stepped out, running his hands through his messy hair, trying to make it not look like he'd just hooked up with a guy in a closet.

"Percy!" someone yelled.

He turned around to see Annabeth heading towards him, two red solo cups in her hands. She looked as beautiful as ever, grey eyes glinting in the light as she made her way towards him.

"Here, I got you a drink," she handed him a cup. "Where were you? I couldn't find you for a good fifteen minutes."

Percy's heart began to beat fast at the thought of lying to her. "I was, um, in the bathroom. I guess that Chinese food I had earlier didn't sit right with me." He laughed nervously. He hoped she didn't call his bluff, but she nodded as if she believed him.

Percy didn't know how he'd keep lying to her like this.

* * *

><p><strong>Yooooo. I literally wrote this in like six hours this morning. You're welcome!<strong>

**ALSO MERRY CHRISTMAS :)**

**(if you celebrate it.)**

**And guuuys the reviews you leave me are so sweet. Like literally I'll wake up and check my phone and there'll be an email with your review saying how good of a writer I am and stuff and it makes me smile and blush and I really love you, I do. You're all so amazing and beautiful and wonderful and I hope you guys have a merry Christmas and a wonderful new year's!**

**- Hazel x**


	18. Chapter 18

The next morning Percy woke up feeling absolutely horrible. He had the worst headache and whenever someone would walk past his door talking loudly, he'd cringe. He really just wanted to cover his head with his pillow and sleep all day, but he couldn't.

He had promised to spend the day with Rachel.

So mustering up all the strength he could, Percy got up from his bed, groaning. He didn't feel like dealing with his unruly hair so he pulled a blue beanie over it and fashioned it the way he wanted. He decided to wear his 'I'm-too-hungover-to-wear-jeans' outfit, which happened to be black joggers and a white v-neck and he completed his ensemble with his signature black Converse All-Stars.

Then he headed over to the girl's dorm to make sure that Rachel wasn't busy doing abstract paintings or donating money to random wildlife organizations because she had a running history of doing such things. Last time. he'd caught her donating five hundred bucks to save the potbelly dolphins, whatever those were.

"Dude," Rachel snickered when she opened her door. She was wearing her Hello Kitty pajamas and a smirk. "What happened to you?"

"A party, that's what." Percy said as he walked in. He flopped down on the her bed and when he saw the look she gave him, he rolled his eyes and added, "Don't worry. Annabeth was there."

"Good," the red-headed girl replied offhandedly, sauntering over to her dresser. She picked out dark green leggings and a fitted white shirt that said 'becoming vegetarian is a big missed steak.' She began to change in front of Percy because yeah, they had that kind of friendship where he could openly check her out without it having any significant meaning.

Percy let out a chuckle when he saw Rachel's shirt. "You're so weird," he commented.

"Yeah, but_ you still wuv me_." She said as if she was talking to a five year old. She sat on Percy's lap and planted a big wet kiss on his cheek.

"Eww," Percy squealed, trying to remove her slobber from his face and shove her off of him at the same time.

They burst into fits of laughter mostly because Rachel would laugh, then snort, and then laugh because she snorted. Percy, being the more mature one, of course, found this pretty hilarious. And once the two would stop laughing, they looked at each other and the cycle started all over again.

Percy tried to stifle his laughter as he spoke. "So what are we doing today?"

"Well, first we're going to Starbucks because I need my caffeine - "

Percy faked a cough. "Hashtag typical white girl." She glared at him.

" - and then we're going ice skating!"

"_Hell no_." Percy said, shaking his head. "Can't we like go to the mall or something? Or go glow in the dark mini-golfing? Something that's actually, like, _cool_?"

"Nope, ice skating." Rachel insisted.

Percy groaned, knowing there was no way he'd get out of this one.

* * *

><p>Rachel clutched her caramel macchiato coffee cup, taking a sip from the steaming liquid. She closed her eyes and moaned at the sheer goodness of the heaven that was called Starbucks.<p>

They were sitting in a booth near the door, Rachel's back towards the entrance. There was a lot of chatter from people making business calls on their iPhones and having oh-my-God-I-haven't-seen-you-in-forever reunions with friends. Percy scanned the shop and from where he sat, he could see everyone who walked past the coffee shop and the people who dared to be hipster enough to get Starbucks to post pictures of their drink on their Instagrams and Tumblrs and whatever else. (No, Percy did not post a picture of his drink. He didn't need a coffee cup to be hipster, thank you very much.)

"This is so good, oh my God," Rachel said, staring into the dark liquid in her cup. "What do they even put in here?"

Percy rolled his green eyes at her, bringing his own vanilla bean frappucino to his lips. "Probably little angel kisses," he snorted and she glared at him.

"So," the redhead changed the subject, stirring her drink with one of those miniature coffee straws, "you haven't given me an update on the whole Jason/Annabeth thing... Has anything juicy happened?" She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

Percy's face heated up, remembering the night before and the feeling of Jason's hands traveling and pressing all over his body. He still felt guilty about it, though, so he was reluctant to tell Rachel about the events that had unfolded the previous night.

The red-headed girl narrowed her eyes at him as if to say 'if-you-don't-tell-me-now-I-will-personally-tell-Annabeth-myself' and Percy fidgeted in his seat, purposely ignoring her gaze by looking at the entrance doors.

He opened his mouth to speak but the sound got trapped in his throat because - speak of the devil - a certain blond boy was walking through the doorway. And Percy did not notice that the gray t-shirt that Jason was wearing was just extremely flattering and brought out the blue in his eyes. Nope, Percy definitely didn't notice that.

Rachel glanced over her shoulder to see what had gotten Percy so choked up. "Hey, is that..? Jason!" She waved him over and the blond smiled, coming towards them. Percy shot her a look that read 'abort mission' but it was already too late because Jason was sliding into the booth next to Percy.

"Hey," Jason grinned, stretching the cute little scar above his lip. He had slight stubble on his chin and his hair looked as if he'd simply just woken up and ran his hands through it, achieving that sexy 'I-woke-up-like-this' look. Percy was a little jealous that he couldn't pull off the look himself. "What's up?" He asked the both of them.

"Oh, Percy and I are just hanging out today," Rachel shrugged nonchalantly but her eyes spoke otherwise. Her eyes had a mischievous gleam in them that made Percy want to leave the booth before she revealed any embarrassing information. Like the fact that they'd just been talking about Jason moments before.

Underneath the table, Jason rested his left hand on Percy's knee as if to comfort him and the green-eyed boy became aware of how close they were sitting. Their entire leg from their thighs down to their knees were pressed firmly against each other. Percy tensed at the contact and the blonde must've noticed because he gently squeezed his knee.

Percy tried to hide his smile by taking a sip of his frappucino.

"That's cool," said Jason. He pointed at the line of people waiting that was growing longer by the second. "I'm going to go get my coffee. Be right back." The last part was said directly to the green-eyed boy.

And then Jason was gone, leaving Percy feeling cold and empty. He resisted the urge to pout.

Rachel didn't wait a second before she narrowed her eyes at him. "What was that about?"

Percy bit his lip.

Rachel gasped.

"Was he at the party last night?" She asked accusingly, her voice rising up an octave. "Did you guys, like, _hook up_? Please tell me you didn't."

Percy blushed hard. "Um, we kinda did but it wasn't like we did it." He emphasized it to get his point across.

"But did you go past second base?"

"Is there even a second base for guys?"

"Probably." She said. "I have no idea what it would be, though. I guess it'd be like - "

Percy kicked her leg underneath the table, effectively ending her sentence as Jason made his way back to them through the maze of tables and people.

"Wow, that was mean," Rachel said, rubbing the spot where Percy kicked her. The green-eyed boy stuck his tongue out at her. She rolled her eyes, saying, "You're so immature."

Jason chuckled. "I'm guessing we're talking about Percy?" He said, reclaiming his spot beside said boy.

"Not helping." Percy mumbled.

"Of course." Rachel said to the blond, leaning forward in her seat. (She loved to talk about how immature and stupid Percy was. It was one of her favorite past times.) "One time he argued with a three year old in the store about the last piece of candy. I had to promise to buy him something else to make him stop before the kid's parents called security or something."

Percy groaned, hitting his head on the table. "That was three years ago."

They ignored him and kept going.

"And he laughs all the time about inappropriate things and always makes those that's what she said jokes." Jason said.

"Don't let him not get his way! He'll have a legit temper tantrum."

The green-eyed boy lifted his head to glare at Rachel. "Okay, now you're just over-exaggerating," he said.

It was funny (okay, more annoying than anything) how every time he got Rachel and Jason together, they always ended up talking as if Percy was invisible and not there to listen to the conversation. He didn't mean to seem like an attention craving toddler but he wanted the two to at least acknowledge his presence.

Rachel rolled her eyes and glanced at her watch. Her emerald eyes widened in shock. "Whoa, it's super late." She glanced at Jason, tossing him an apologetic smile as she threw her cup in the trash bin. "I promised I'd take Jackson ice skating."

Jason snorted in a way that Percy found kind of cute. "Make sure to take pictures for me, Rach." (Oh, so now they resorted to using nicknames? Insert annoyed emoji here.)

"Please don't." Percy said sarcastically. "My reputation strictly disallows pictures of me ice skating to go circulating around campus."

"We wouldn't want that, now would we?"

Percy narrowed his eyes at the blonde. "Did you really just quote Tangled, Grace?"

Jason simply took a sip of his coffee. "You might want to catch up with Rachel. She's already halfway across the street."

"Wait, _what_?" Percy said, looking over his shoulder. Sure, enough, through the window he could see the red-haired girl walking across the concrete towards her yellow punch buggy. "_Oh, shit_!"

Needless to say, Percy ran out of Starbucks, dodging traffic and leaving a chuckling Jason behind.

* * *

><p>"When are you going to tell Annabeth?"<p>

Percy froze.

Like, literally froze in the middle of lacing up his ice skates, fingers still holding on to the frayed ends of the laces.

The two were sitting in the seats of the lobby of the ice skating factory, where they sold overpriced tasteless food and had a mini arcade that pretty much only had air hockey and those games that you played over and over again and never won on. Kids were running around carrying skates and begging their parents to help them with lacing up their skates. He could hear all the commotion going on around him, but it was all dull compared to how clearly he heard Rachel's voice.

Percy stared at the cracks in the worn brown leather of his skates, not wanting to look up at Rachel. He already knew what her face would look like. Her green eyes would be soft and focused solely on him and the corners of her mouth would be tilted downwards in a disapproving frown that reminded him of his mother.

Yeah, he definitely did not want to look up at her.

Percy sighed, running his hands through his hair. "Soon. I just - I don't know how to tell her. I can't be like, 'Hey, so I did some things we Jason a couple of nights ago. Sorry.'"

"Yeah, but you also can't avoid it forever. She doesn't deserve for her emotions to be played with." Rachel told him, laying a soothing hand on his shoulder. "You're going to have to tell her eventually, or else she'll find out through someone else. And then you'll be screwed."

"I know," he said in genuine exasperation. "Things are just rocky. It's like I trust her, but I don't. Being with her is so easy and natural, but then there's these moments when I think what if she finds someone better and leaves me again? There's always this underlying tension between us and it's just so _goddamn frustrating_."

Rachel was quiet for a moment before she spoke.

"I think you're just confused." She said slowly, as if she walking on thin ice and if she said the wrong thing, the ice would crack and break. "You're comfortable with Annabeth because she's familiar and Jason isn't. That's why you're so attracted to him; you love the thrill of falling in love again, learning who a person is and how they work. No matter how hard you try, you can't fall in love again. You're going through the same thing and expecting different results. You've just got to choose between your past and your future."

"That," Percy laughed bitterly, "might be the most profound thing you've said in all the time that I've known you."

"Hey, I'm a very philosophical person!" Rachel said, nudging his shoulder. "Anyways, I think it's about time that I show you my kick-ass ice skating moves."

"I think you mean your nonexistent kick-ass ice skating moves."

"Don't be jealous, Jackson. I've got the moves like jagger."

"As if." Percy smiled, rolling his eyes.

He'd never admit it but it was good to know he had a friend like Rachel who could give him advice worthy of Oprah and could be giving him playful banter the next second.

He could honestly say she kept him grounded and from doing less stupid things. Well, Annabeth did that too, but Rachel did a better job of making him actually think about the consequences with his heart rather than his brain, the way Annabeth got most of her facts across.

Percy was going to tell Annabeth about him and Jason, that was for sure. And usually, when he set his mind on something, he was stubborn and it took a lot to keep him from doing that thing.

It was all just the matter of when.

* * *

><p><strong>Happy New Year's!<strong>

**(I can't believe it's 2015. It's crazy.)**

**Anyways, I decides to start the new year off right by updating. I guess this is more of a filler chapter, since nothing really happened.**

**Nonetheless, you all should review so I can know what to work on.**

**Thanks! Love you guys!**

**- Hazel x**


	19. Chapter 19

"Can I sit with you?"

Jason looked up to see Nico di Angelo standing at the edge of his lunch table, his pale hands clutching the edges of his plastic brown tray. The boy was wearing his usual all black ensemble but today he'd apparently abandoned his aviator jacket for a simple black hoodie. The blonde was glad to see the change in attire.

Nico's eyes flickered down to the seat directly in front of Jason as if asking for permission to sit there. The blond wondered why he seemed so nervous to sit down but then he'd noticed he was the only one sitting at the table since everybody else were too busy studying for midterms to eat lunch in the cafeteria. They were probably going through their stashes of forbidden nutrition bars and chips underneath their beds.

Jason quickly nodded.

"Yeah, sure," he said, shutting the book he'd been currently reading. He figured that talking to Nico again was an once in a lifetime opportunity and that he probably wouldn't get the chance to again.

Nico sat down and began to eat, nibbling on bits of food here and there.

Jason frowned.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Nico glared at him, his eyebrows lowered together.

Jason's eyes landed on the Italian boy's small frame. It was no doubt that he needed a bit more meat on his bones and even the smallest bits of food, even an apple, would help.

Leo had told Jason that Nico had poor eating habits ever since his sister, Bianca, died in a car accident four years ago. And his half-sister, Hazel, was always trying to get him to eat more, according to the Latino.

"You need to eat more," he said, pointing at the red apple on Nico's plate. His voice held that tone that reminded everyone of a leader, which was probably why people always assumed that he was pursuing a degree in business and was hoping to become a CEO of his own company when in reality, all he wanted to do was become an aero-space engineer. (Yes, he was a total space geek.)

"You're not my mother," the Italian boy mumbled underneath his breath.

"But I'm your friend," Jason replied, not missing a beat, "and I would appreciate it if you didn't pass out again from not eating enough."

Nico blushed all the way to the tips of his ears. "Leo told you about that?"

"He's my best friend. He tells everything."

"Oh."

Nico picked up his apple and inspected the skin. He took a bite when he thought the blond wasn't looking, but Jason was indeed watching with a smirk plastered on his face. Nico ignored the look he was giving him.

"How are you and Percy?" Nico suddenly asked. Jason tensed, his mind flashing back to that one night. "He hasn't been sitting at this table a lot since his accident."

"We're, uh, good." Jason smiled but it didn't reach his eyes. "How's you and Leo?"

"We broke up."

"Really?" Jason's brows furrowed at the new information. He was never aware that they weren't together anymore. Their break up must've been recent.

Obviously Jason didn't talk to his best friend enough.

"Yeah," Nico frowned at the apple core on his plate. "About three days ago."

"I'm sorry."

Nico shrugged as if he didn't care but Jason knew he did by the way his eyes became a darker shade of brown, almost black, and his shoulders slumped the slightest bit. Jason had a faint idea about why him and Leo broke up but he didn't want to ask. He also didn't want Nico blaming himself.

"Hey," the blond said, reaching forward to rest his hand over Nico's pale one.

The boy instantly recoiled as if he was touching something hot. "Don't touch me," he muttered.

Jason ignored the comment, instead continuing what he was saying.

"I don't know why you and Leo broke up but you should probably know that it's hard for him to show his feelings. He's used to dealing with machines," Jason made a weird gesture neither one of them knew the meaning of but continued, "He's not used to actual people with feelings and emotions. So if that has anything to deal with you two not being together, then you need to go talk to Leo and tell him I'll beat his little scrawny butt if he doesn't get his shit together. Okay?"

Nico's eyes lowered to the table, a soft expression spreading across his face. "Okay," he said, nodding.

"Good," Jason sat back in his chair, feeling confident that if he couldn't keep his own love life in check, then he could help with someone else's.

Because honestly, how was Jason was so good at giving others advice but not himself?

Oh yeah, probably because he over-analyzed the smallest things and barely knew when a girl was throwing herself at his feet. He needed a copy of _Love 101 for Dummies_ ASAP.

Especially when it came to Percy Jackson.

* * *

><p>Jason shut the book in front of him, groaning. He'd been in Olympus's huge library searching the stacks for the right reference for his essay about what the Greek myths have to tell people about love. And of freakin' course his teacher had to give them only three days to write a 5,000 word essay. At that rate, Jason would have to drink two six packs of Monster energy drinks and pull an all-nighter to get his essay finished.<p>

Running a hand through his hair, the blonde went to go return his book and upon doing so, stumbled across a bookshelf that seemed to be forgotten. It was shoved against the corner of the library walls, a thick coat of dust covering every inch of it. It was as if the books hadn't been read or opened in years.

Curiously, Jason pulled a book from the shelves of the small wooden bookcase. It was a thick blue hardcover book with frayed edges like it'd been through hell and back. He blew the dust off to read the name of the book, a puff of gray dustbunnies swirling around his head. He was about to read the title when he spotted a flash of golden blonde hair to his left.

Jason glanced over his shoulder and his eyes locked with the gray ones of Annabeth Chase, her eyes narrowed at him as if she was deciding whether or not she should confront him. About what, Jason didn't know but all of his instincts were telling him to flight rather than fight because of the look Annabeth was giving him. It was an accusing glare mixed with a slightly quirked eyebrow that made his heart skip a beat and not in a good way.

Jason immediately panicked.

He took a step back, which caused him to stumble backwards into the bookshelf that was roughly half of his height. Books and dust flew in every direction, obscuring his view as he fell onto his back. He coughed from the amount of dust going up his nose and shut his eyes to block out the pain flowering in the middle of his spine.

"You okay, Jason?"

Jason blinked twice, four blurry eyes slowly blending into two distinct stormy gray eyes that were staring down at him. Annabeth's nose was about a centimeter away from his and he could see the blue and green flecks in her eyes. He wondered if that was something Percy found attractive about her. Would Percy find him ten times hotter if he got colored contacts that looked like hers?

Annabeth cleared her throat, bringing him out of his thoughts and back to reality.

"Swell," Jason said. He ignored the hand that she offered him, instead standing up on his own and turning his back to her so he could fix the mess of books he'd made.

Jason righted the bookshelf and began to place the books back on it in the right order because he was a total perfectionist. And then a pair of tan hands were beside him, helping. He shot Annabeth a look, wondering why she would be helping him in the first place. The last time he checked, they weren't on very good terms.

"Thanks," Jason mumbled when they'd finished and she nodded in reply.

Jason raised an eyebrow when she didn't bother to make a move to leave. He rolled his eyes. "Do you need anything?" he asked, or snapped rather.

She just stood there with her hands in her hoodie's pockets.

Wait, correction: _Percy's_ hoodie's pockets.

He hadn't noticed before that she was wearing the green-eyed boy's favorite black and green striped hoodie. The jacket was entirely too big for her small frame and nearly engulfed her, coming to an end mid-thigh.

Jason tried to ignore the pang in chest and the slight jealousy that was starting to course through his veins.

He knew that he had no right to be jealous. Annabeth was Percy's girlfriend. She could wear his clothes whenever she wanted to, even the green-eyed boy's favorite hoodie.

Annabeth shuffled her feet awkwardly and he realized that he was staring.

Then he realized that she was still standing there, looking almost ... _nervous_?

He wasn't used to seeing this side of her. It was almost unsettling. The Annabeth he knew wasn't afraid to meet his eyes, gray eyes settling on everything and everywhere but him. The Annabeth he knew was confident, her shoulders back and her head always held high.

So naturally he felt apprehensive when she started to speak, her words sounding unsure.

"Um, I know that we haven't been on good terms since Percy's - well, _accident_ and ... I just wanted to ask if you've noticed that he's been distant lately? ... Or if that's only with me?" She frowned, shaking her hands and making a gesture Jason didn't quite understand. "I mean, I know you're one of his very good friends and he's probably talked to you about what's going on with him. He just might not be talking to me about it because it's too personal.

"Basically, what I'm trying to ask is if there's anything I can do to help him deal with whatever this is? ... I guess I just don't want this to come between us and ruin our relationship," she finished with a deep breath. She smiled sheepishly and said, "Sorry, I know I'm rambling and you probably haven't even been listening to me - "

"N-No, I have," Jason quickly interjected. He probably shouldn't even be opening his mouth because knowing him, it was probably going to put him in deeper shit than he already was in, but it was too late too back out now that Annabeth's looking at him like he's got the solution to end world hunger. "It's just, um, something Percy's got to tell you on his own, when he's ready. You know how stubborn he is. If you try to force it out of him, he won't tell you."

Her expression changed from hopeful to crestfallen. "So you know what it is then?" Annabeth asked with a raised brow.

He opened his mouth to answer but then he realized - wow, he was doing a lot of realizing today, he really needed to open his eyes more - that what was bothering Percy wasn't something that he should be telling Annabeth.

Jason might have been blonde but he wasn't the dimmest crayon in the box.

He knew that Percy felt guilty because of what they'd done at that party not too long ago and that it definitely fell in the category of 'cheating'. He knew that Percy was distant because of it and he knew that Annabeth would slowly catch on and would soon know what was transpiring between the two of them.

What he didn't know was how much of their relationship Percy revealed to Annabeth and he didn't want to risk throwing the green-eyed boy under the bus.

"Yeah, I can't really elaborate more than that," he said. He glanced at the golden watch on his wrist and feigned shock. "Oh, shit, my next class starts in, like, five minutes. Gotta go. Catch ya later, Annabeth!"

And then Jason took off running like a lightning bolt.

He only had one thought running through his head as he sprinted across the courtyard and dodged people's bodies; he had to warn Percy.

Once he reached the boys' dorm building, he rushed up the stairs to Percy's room. The door was unlocked so Jason just kind of welcomed himself in because this was an emergency. A freakin' national disaster.

Percy, who had been sprawled out on his bed about to doze off, jumped suddenly when the door opened, literally throwing his duvet halfway across the small dorm room. Once he caught sight of Jason, he simply yawned, saying, "Dude, what's up? You look like you're about to get executed."

Jason stopped his pacing mid-step and turned to give Percy a panicked look. "I might be!" He all but shouted. "I saw Annabeth in the library and she was asking me about you and why you're so distant because apparently, I'm one of your close friends - "

"Uh, I've seen your junk. I think we're past the friend stage," Percy winked and damn, he really needed to put a shirt on so Jason wouldn't get distracted and start drooling all over the hardwood floors.

"Anyways," Jason said, getting back on track, "she's getting suspicious. You gotta tell her what's going on, man."

At that moment, Percy got a horrified look on his face. It was a cross between '_I feel like I'm going to throw up any second_' and '_what's the best escape route?'_ Since it was Percy they were talking about, it was more likely the latter.

"Don't worry, I'll tell her." Percy said, then added under his breath, "_Eventually_." Jason let out an exasperated breath, rolling his eyes.

"We don't have time for eventually! You need to tell her that you cheated and make a decision between the two of us." Jason told him, glaring at the green-eyed and crossing his arms over his chest. "I'm not going to wait forever for you for you to decide who you want to be with. And to be completely honest, I don't want to be with someone who is going to question if they made the right choice."

"Don't say that," Percy said. "You make me sound like a seven-year-old who can't to decide which flavor of ice cream to get."

Jason gives him a '_really?_' look. "Jackson, this is serious! I don't want to be in a relationship with you if I have to sneak behind your girlfriend's back. From this point on, it's either me or her."

Percy groaned, falling back on his bed. He was being given an ultimatum. He pulled at his black waves frustratedly and when he released it, his hair was sticking up in every possible direction. Jason probably would have found it sexy if it weren't for the situation at hand.

"How long do I have to make a decision?" Percy asked, scratching the back of his neck with uncertainty.

"Three days," Jason said, opening the door. He levelled his eyes with Percy's. "Hopefully you make the best decision."

And with that, he shut the door behind him.

* * *

><p><strong>For some reason this chapter was ridiculously fun to write even though I had some difficulty with the whole Jason giving Nico advice because who am I kidding? I've never even been in a relationship before, haha. Thank God for fan fictions and movies because without them, this story would be absolute crap. Oh, and this is the longest chapter yet, so kudos to me!<strong>

**Enough of me rambling, though.**

**Don't forget to review because I love knowing what you think about the story. (I'm honestly so flattered by you guys. You all leave the best reviews!)**

**Love you to bits!**

**- Hazel x**


	20. Chapter 20

Percy didn't understand how Jason expected him to come up with a decision in three days. He could barely decide which pair of socks he wanted to wear in the morning and Jason expected him to choose who he wanted to be with for most likely the rest of his life?

Okay, maybe he was overreacting a bit, but still.

Picking the person he wanted to be in a relationship with wasn't easy. He had already been in a relationship with Jason and was currently in one with Annabeth.

If he wanted to choose the easy way out, he'd pick Annabeth, but he wasn't one hundred percent sure with that decision. What if she decided to cheat and leave him again? That thought was always nagging him in the back of his mind like a pesky gnat that wouldn't stop flying around your face.

On the other hand, Percy knew that Jason would never cheat on him like Annabeth did; the blonde boy was much too loyal and heroic to break even a pinkie promise. However, he wasn't complete sure about being with Jason. Sure, they had dated before, but at the time, they weren't completely serious about their relationship. The entire time they were dating, it was like tiptoeing around broken glass. Percy was new to the whole dating a guy thing and Jason didn't want to pressure him into anything, so they'd never gone all the way before and the thought of doing it with a guy made Percy's face turn hot and red.

He didn't understand why he was so nervous thinking about picking who he loved more. Deep down, he knew who he should pick, but there was this nagging voice in the back of his head, questioning his decision.

Then Percy realized that he was afraid.

He was afraid of making the wrong choice. He was afraid of putting his love in the wrong person. He was afraid of going through heartbreak again.

The thought of choosing and making a decision - _especially the wrong decision_ - made Percy's heart race. His breath became shallow and he found himself struggling to breathe.

He tried to _calm down calm down calm down_, thinking in his head,_ in for one, out for three,_ and repeating the mantra over and over.

Percy barely had time to recuperate from his panic attack before Annabeth burst through the door in a blur of blonde hair and copy paper. By habit, he ran his hand through his shaggy hair and let his thoughts ramble. He noticed small things about her - the way the corners of her mouth tugged upwards as she spoke, how she brushed the hair out of her face delicately with the back of her hand rather than the tips of her fingers.

As he looked at her, he knew he thought she was beautiful and that he loved her but he didn't know how deep that love was. Looking at her, he didn't feel the same way he felt when he looked at Jason.

"Percy, are you even listening?" Annabeth was saying all of a sudden. Her eyebrows were furrowed and her intense gray eyes were narrowed at him.

"Hmm?" He managed to say, blinking slowly. "Sorry, I spaced out."

The blonde rolled her eyes. "What I was saying was that I have a huge chapter test in architectural history tomorrow and I need you to help me study these note cards." She held up a stack of index cards two inches thick and Percy literally cringed at the thought of studying. There was a reason the word _dying _was in it.

"Do I have to?" He pouted.

"If you want me to continue helping you with your Calc homework, then yes."

Percy groaned. "_Fiiiiiine._"

Really, he could write a book about the cons of having Annabeth Chase as a girlfriend.

He scooted over on his bed to make space for Annabeth and reached for the cards. It took him a couple of moments to process what was written on the cards.

"What is a volute?" The green-eyed boy finally asked.

Annabeth responded without hesitation. "It's an ornamental feature shaped like a spiraled scroll."

Percy nodded. He felt like he was Alex Trebec on _Jeopardy_. (He liked watching the show even if he didn't know half of the answers.)

"Which of the following is not part of an," Percy frowned at the index card, "endtabletour?"

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "You mean, _entablature_?"

He shrugged. "Yeah, whatever." He held up the card to show her the options.

"What is the finial?"

"Correct." Percy smirked and spoke in the same tone as Alex. "Daily double! What is your wager?"

The blonde threw her head back in laughter, the light reflecting off of her princess curls. "Let's make it a true daily double, Alex."

"Here's your clue... Where would you find an abacus?"

Annabeth pretended to think, stroking her chin. "What is between the capital of a column and the architrave?"

"2,600 points for Miss Chase!" Percy laughed, exchanging the card for a new one.

He kept up the act until he reached the last index, Annabeth going along with him the entire time. And of course, she got every question right, being the genius that she was.

It also made Percy realize that this was something he loved about Annabeth. How everything was so easy with her, even joking around with her like this.

Annabeth glanced at Percy, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear absent-mindedly. "Are you okay, Percy?"

He blinked once, twice, three times.

"You're beautiful, you know that?" He told her, grasping her cold hands with his own. He kissed her nose endearingly. "I love you," Percy said.

He felt as if he was only trying to convince himself that he did.

* * *

><p>"You are so dumb," Piper declared, swiveling around in her desk chair to toss Percy that familiar look that he often received that read '<em>you're stupid and I have no idea why we're even friends.<em>'

Her hair was braided with a feather in it as per usual, but today she'd added a golden wreath headband. Percy thought that she looked like some kind of Greek goddess.

Percy sat on her bed, legs crossed Indian style and his body leaning back against the handful of throw pillows behind him. He rolled his eyes and stared at the bohemian tapestry hanging from her dorm room wall behind her. (Piper's dorm was basically the definition of tumblr — Urban Outfitters decor and string lights included.)

Percy had come to her for help about his love life since she was a psychology major and was normally good at relationship advice despite not having a boyfriend. He had explained the whole situation vaguely and changed the names to Jake and Anna (pronounced like Anna of Arendelle) and apparently, according to Piper, he was stupid.

He could agree, but with basically an hour left to make a decision he didn't have anyone to talk to about this besides Piper.

"You don't think know that? It's pretty much the whole reason I got into this mess." He said, reaching for the white porcelain Buddha sitting on her nightstand, inspecting it thoroughly. He didn't understand how people could worship little chubby guys made of glass, but hey, he was Jewish.

"I would tell you to follow your heart, go with what feels right, _blah, blah, blah_ — _IF YOU DON'T PUT MY BUDDHA DOWN RIGHT NOW! IT COST ME EIGHTY DOLLARS!" _Percy's eyes widened considerably but he put down the statue nonetheless. Partly because he couldn't afford replacing it, but mostly because he wanted to keep all of his body parts intact.

Piper continued as if she hadn't just threatened him. "— but somehow, knowing you, you'd probably screw it up somehow, so here's what I'm going to do. I'll ask you a few questions and you'll answer them honestly. Okay?"

He nodded. "Okay."

"Who do you think you're more compatible with?"

Percy narrowed his eyes in confusion. "Compatible as in like computers?" He asked.

Piper bit back a sarcastic remark at Percy's lack of intelligence. "No, _like people_," she said, rolling her eyes. "Like who do you think you interact better with? Who's easier to be around?"

He took a moment to think about that.

While he had known Annabeth since forever, he had only known Jason for a little bit more than a year. And yet, the actual dynamics of their relationship was different. With Annabeth he felt like he always had to be dominant and in control but with Jason, he could take turns with the blond deciding if he was going to be in charge or not. It was great sitting back and letting someone take care of you sometimes.

"Probably Jake," Percy answered.

Piper nodded. "And do you and this Anna girl have the same goals for the future?"

The green-eyed boy frowned. "Well, I mean, she's really into her architecture and knows what she wants in life so I can imagine that she probably wouldn't want to have kids, but I do. I want to be able to be the father that I wish I had, y'know?" He paused, thinking about his childhood and coming home every day after school and sitting at the window waiting for his dad to come back home. He could still feel that pang in his chest from being abandoned and wondering what he had done to make his father not love him anymore. It was enough to make his eyes water, but he wouldn't admit that.

"And I feel like she'd be too caught up in her job to even be there to help contribute and I don't want them to be without their mother either. I just want my kids to have two parents and for the both us to love them unconditionally and I think Jay can be that parent. He's just ... I don't know, he's just kinda perfect." Percy laughed, feeling kinda like some sappy girl from a chick flick.

Piper eyes had this gleam in them that made Percy fidget and squirm in his seat. He bounced his knee, stared at an interesting portrait of the Eiffel tower on Piper's wall, anything to get his mind off of how the brunette across from him was looking at him.

"What?" He asked her, clasping his hands in his lap to keep them still.

She smirked at him. "I think you already know the answer... at least about who you should be with."

"Yeah," Percy lowered his eyes, "I do."

He realized that maybe he knew who he was in love with all along.

As Percy stood up from her bed and made his way to the door, he reached for the doorknob and let out a sigh of relief that she hadn't caught on to who he was talking about.

"Percy."

"Dammit," he mumbled under his breath as he turned to face Piper.

A hint of a smile graced her beautiful face as she said, "I already knew the two people you were talking about - you're really bad at names - and I just want you to know that if you end up hurting Jason, what I will do to you will be one hundred times worse."

Percy gulped. "O-Okay."

He knew that she was being completely honest and he would like to enjoy sex in the future, thank you very much.

"You may go now," she waved him off and turned back to the dishevelled pile of homework on her desk.

He quickly left before she could say anything more.

* * *

><p><strong>Ugh this chapter is so awkward. I apologize. And my tablet was giving me hell to put this up so kudos to me for persevering.<strong>

**I'm going to skip the whole being busy spiel and say that I'm so thankful for wonderful readers like you guys. Keep doing what you do and follow, favorite, and review!**

**I love you all so much.**

**- Hazel x**


	21. Chapter 21

The next day, Percy woke up with a nagging voice in his head telling him to haul his ass out of bed and get shit done.

So he, being Percy Jackson, went around his room, using his sense of smell to test if he could at least come up with a presentable outfit to wear without doing laundry. After getting dressed, he simply brushed his hands through his hair (because he couldn't find a comb) and shaved his facial hair so he didn't look like Bigfoot's long lost cousin.

Then, a couple of minutes later, Percy found himself standing outside of Annabeth's door, fumbling with the buttons on his plaid flannel shirt. He wasn't exactly sure how the plan he'd conjured up in fifteen minutes was going to turn out. Normally, he was able to pull everything off with a laugh and a smirk and make it look rehearsed that way.

Honestly, right now he really just wanted to turn and run, but he mostly wanted a cold glass of water.

"What's the worse that could happen anyway?" he muttered to himself.

_She'll put you in a headlock and you'll die of asphyxiation,_ the Percy in his head said.

"Shut up," he told himself, sucking in a deep breath. He brought his hand up and knocked on the door before he lost his three seconds of confidence. While he waited, the Percy in his head kept rambling.

_What if she ties you to the train tracks on 24th street and lets you get run over by a train going one hundred miles per hour?_

She wouldn't.

_Or puts poison in your blue Kool-Aid?_

Probably.

_Dude, you better leave before she starts planning your murder._

"Seriously," Percy said, "shut the hell up."

"What?"

Percy's eyes widened as he looked up from his dirty Converse to Annabeth's narrowed grey eyes. She was wearing a loose fitted white t-shirt and sweatpants, her blonde hair tied up in a messy bun, and her eyebrows were creased in the middle of her forehead. Basically, she looked as if she was ready to judo kick him in the nuts.

"I was, uh, talking to myself." He managed to stutter out. His hands were slightly shaking so he stuffed them into the pocket of his jeans.

"Uh huh," she said, leaning against her doorframe with her arms crossed over her chest. "So what's up?"

"Um." He said intelligently. A bead of sweat trickled down the side of his face. He was suddenly extremely hot and he rolled up the sleeves of his button down to his elbows.

"You seem nervous."

"Just a little bit."

"Really?" she asked, but it sounded sarcastic. She cocked her head to the side. "What for?"

Percy scratched the back of his neck. He really didn't plan to get this far and even if he had, he would've forgotten everything by the time Annabeth opened the door and started glaring at him.

"Because," he said, mentally preparing himself for the end of the world. His green eyes darted back and forth between the gray eyes before him and the hardwood floors at his feet. "Because I've kind of been cheating on you with Jason and I feel super guilty so um ..." he trailed off when he noticed that Annabeth's expression had softened.

She no longer was wearing that look of intimidation, where her stormy eyes were slightly narrowed and her lips were pursed into a straight line. Now, her eyes had returned to their light gray state and her face was almost void of emotion except for the slight upturn of the corner of her lips. Percy stiffened.

"What?" He asked, his eyebrow slightly raised. "Aren't you supposed to be mad and threatening me or something?"

She let out a forced laugh. "Oh, I already knew about you and Jason."

Percy's jaw dropped.

"How?"

"Well, for starters I knew you weren't completely over him because I know you. You hold on to the past much too easily." She said, clearing her throat when her voice threatened to crack. She brushed away the strands falling into her face with the back of her hand. "I-I remember that one party – the one where you were gone for a good thirty minutes and then I saw you coming out of the storage closet with Jason and … and your was shirt inside out and smelled like sex. I tried to play it off, dismiss it as a one-time thing, but he's your ex-boyfriend and you still look at him like he's the best thing ever and – and – You still love him after all this time."

Percy frowned. "So you're not mad?" He was still nervous that she hadn't flipped shit. He knew that she was the type of person to say that she was fine, plan out your downfall when you least expected it, and then look beautiful while executing it.

"I'm upset, but not mad," Annabeth reassured him with a soft smile, biting her lip. "I knew it was bound to happen and I don't blame you after what happened between Luke and I. You deserve someone loyal like Jason, someone who knows when to say no to all of your stupid ideas."

"Not all my ideas are stupid," he countered, feeling slightly offended. "Remember that genius prank I had awhile back? I never got caught."

"Okay," Annabeth grinned, holding up her hands. "About seventy-five percent of your ideas are stupid."

Percy smirked. "That's better."

They stood in silence for a while, just staring at each other. Percy's heart swelled. He honestly didn't know if this was goodbye – if this was the last time he'd talk to her. He hoped it wasn't because she was his best friend of ten years. Sure, it would be awkward at first, but living without her would suck majorly.

"So we're good?" He asked.

She nodded, looking away to blink back the tears threatening to spill from her eyes. "Yeah, we're good. Now, I think you have to go talk to someone, don't you?"

"Uh, yeah," Percy said, "I guess I'll – uh – talk to you later."

"Yeah."

With that, Percy started to back away, watching the way Annabeth's hands clenched and unclenched at her side and the way she quickly wiped her tears away when she thought he was no longer looking. The image made his heart feel heavy due to the fact that she was crying because of him. Hurting her had been what he was trying to avoid this entire time and yet, he'd still ended up doing so.

How did he deserve a happy ending with someone as great as Jason when he couldn't even treat his girlfriend – ex-girlfriend – right? He'd been planning to head over to Jason's dorm to win him over, but he didn't have the heart to anymore. He didn't want to hurt Jason the way he hurt Annabeth.

* * *

><p>Percy wiped the drool off of his cheek, blinking away the blurriness of his eyesight. His phone was on his nightstand and it persisted to continue to vibrate vigorously. Groaning, he reached out and tried unsuccessfully to slide his finger across the screen to make his phone shut up, but he failed epically as it fell to the floor with a loud thud.<p>

"My God," he moaned, deciding to stop being lazy and actually get out of the bed to retrieve the device.

His rolled his eyes when he came to the awareness that it Jason who caused his phone to have a seizure, thus causing his lack of sleep. It was almost five a.m. and Percy knew himself well enough to know that he wouldn't be falling asleep again anytime soon. Unfortunately, he also knew Jason well enough to know that he'd be coming to knock on his door in a couple of minutes. It was just way too early for him to interact with people.

In an effort to avoid the blond, Percy decided to go take a swim. After all, he needed the practice and the fact that it helped him clear his head was also a bonus.

He gathered all of the necessary items for an early morning swim – shorts to swim in, a towel, and a change of clothes. He bundled everything up and went to the gym where the pool was after changing in the locker room.

As he opened the door to the pool area, Percy closed his eyes and relished in the smell of chlorine. He could imagine the thrill of darting past his competitors in the lanes next to him, trying to his best to out do them with his breaststroke, and the adrenaline of a good race against someone who was at your level. That was what he'd missed the most while in the hospital. It didn't matter who you were outside of the pool, it was all about who you were while you were in the water.

"I figured you would be here," someone said.

Percy's eyes flew open.

Standing there was a soaking wet Jason, wearing nothing but a pair of swimming trunks. His blond hair was sticking to his forehead and water droplets were dripping down his chest, or more accurately, his abs. Percy was not trying to stare, but his cheeks were now stained a dark shade of crimson.

And he might've been internally freaking out a bit.

"Dude," the green-eyed boy said, throwing his towel over his shoulder, "you never come to the pool."

Jason just shrugged. "People change."

A pause.

Percy shifted his weight, mumbling under his breath, "So do relationships."

"What does that mean?" Jason questioned with a quirked eyebrow.

"Nevermind." He huffed. "You gonna keep swimming or not?"

"You're changing the subject."

Percy rolled his eyes. "Obviously."

"Don't get sassy with me." Jason's voice grew low and Percy had to resist the urge to shove him into the water.

"Or what?"

"Really, Jackson?"

"What, Grace?"

Jason sighed over dramatically and looked pointedly at Percy. "You leave me no choice," he said and then one of his arms was below the green-eyed boy's knees and the other circled his back. Percy squealed – honest to God squealed – as he was lifted into the air.

"Put me down!"

"Nope," Jason smirked, sauntering over to the edge of the pool.

"I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOU DON'T PUT ME DOWN NOW, JASON!" Percy yelled and then he was falling, splashing into the water face-first. Jason was clutching his sides in laughter, his blue eyes crinkled at the corners.

Frowning, Percy crossed his arms over his chest. "Are you done yet?" He asked, unamused.

"Dude, your face was priceless." Jason took a calming breath and then he sat down at the edge of the pool, his legs dangling as he said, "Okay, I'm done now."

Percy pulled himself to the edge of pool, resting his forearms against the tiled flooring. "What did you want to talk about anyways?" He questioned, lifting his chin a bit.

Jason's expression immediately changed, his eyes becoming dark. He glanced away from Percy and the green-eyed boy found himself lifting an eyebrow. He couldn't figure out what would cause the blond's attitude to do a complete 180.

"It's been three days, Percy," he said. _Oh._ "You need to make a decision."

"I already have," he replied, running his foot along the bottom of the pool.

Now it was Jason's turn to raise an eyebrow. (Add nervous to the list of things Jason wears well.) "You have?"

"Yeah."

"Who is it?"

"It's you," Percy breathed, looking up at the blonde through his eyelashes. "It was always you, Jason. I didn't realize it until now, but I love you, Jason Grace."

Jason didn't know if he wanted to hug Percy or kiss him, so he settled for the latter, leaning down to press a chaste kiss to the green-eyed boy's lips. "I love you, too, Percy."

"Good, then you'll forgive me for this." Percy grinned.

Jason barely had time to register what was happening until he was soaking wet all over again, surfacing next to Percy, his blond hair matted to his forehead. "You're a little shit," Jason laughed, pressing a kiss to Percy's lips. The green-eyed boy smirked into the kiss and suddenly it was changing from soft and intimate to very passionate. Jason deepened the kiss and Percy shifted his head back to accommodate.

Maybe he couldn't make please Annabeth, but Percy knew that he could make Jason happy. He didn't know where they'd end up in the next few years and at the same time, he didn't care as long as he could live a long happy life with his boyfriend –and maybe in the future, husband.

"What?" Percy asked when Jason just stared at him.

"You're just amazing," the blond boy said.

If this wasn't love, Percy didn't know what was.

* * *

><p><strong>Well, that happened...<strong>

** This story is finally finished!**

**I'm honestly going to miss writing this story because writing the interaction Percy and Jason is so easy. And there's also the fact that y'all are such amazing readers and I'm not even exaggerating. When I first published this story, I didn't expect to get as many readers as I have now. I 'd never written in third person before and I was just experimenting. Going back and looking at my previous stories, I've realized how much I've grown as a writers thanks to all of you. Your reviews have helped me to learn what readers want and look for in a good story.**

**I cannot express my gratitiude enough. I really do love all of you.**

**Thank you so much.**

**- Hazel x**


	22. IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE!

**Hey, everyone! I've missed writing this story a lot and I was thinking, what if there was a sequel? I haven't started writing it or anything, but I have a very very general direction that I'm going in. And I'll write it if you guys are 100% sure you want a sequel, so leave a comment saying what your opinions are and I'll make my decision based on that!**

**Thanks, guys! I love you.**

**- Hazel x**


	23. AUTHOR'S NOTE: AO3

So I got a message from someone wondering if someone stole my story on AO3 and I just wanted to inform everyone that yes, I am publishing this story on there. However, I'm changing the plot to fit the idea that I have for the sequel so some minor details will be changed. If you would like to read it as I publish new and edited chapters, I'll attach the link here.

/works/5378459/chapters/12422651

Also, happy New Year!


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